As a seasoned crypto investor with battle-scarred fingers and a hearty appetite for market volatility, I’ve seen it all – the dizzying highs and the gut-wrenching lows that define this rollercoaster ride we call cryptocurrency. The recent weekend selloff, accelerated by the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hike, sent us spiraling back to winter chills, reminding me of the biting cold of February.


Over the weekend, a significant decline in cryptocurrency markets picked up pace especially during Sunday evening in the United States, causing Bitcoin (BTC) to drop to prices last seen in February, while Ether (ETH) returned to levels last experienced in December.

Bitcoin’s price dropped by approximately 12% in the last 24 hours and by around 20% compared to a week ago. Over the past 24 hours, Ether (ETH) has decreased by 21%, which erases all its gains for the year so far. Since January 1st, Ether is down about 3%.

The broader CoinDesk 20 Index is down 12% over the past 24 hours.

It appears that the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise its benchmark interest rate last week may have sparked a significant correction in both crypto and traditional markets. This monetary tightening caused the Japanese yen to strengthen, while the Nikkei stock index plummeted. As of early Monday, the Nikkei had fallen an additional 6%, bringing its total decline over the past three sessions to approximately 15%. Compared to its peak in mid-July, this represents a drop of about 20%.

The events that started in Japan have reached the United States, causing the Nasdaq to drop over 5% during its last two trading days of last week. At this moment on Sunday evening, Nasdaq future contracts are down by approximately 2.5%.

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2024-08-05 04:40