BTC and ETH Dip as Covid Variant Fears Affect Financial Markets

A new coronavirus variant was recently discovered, and the news has sent shocks through the global financial markets. As a result, stocks and commodities have been negatively affected over the past few hours.

The negative performance also spread into the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin and Ether both suffering huge losses in the last 24 hours.

BTC and ETH Down by More Than 5%

The prices of Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, and Ether, the second-largest coin by market cap, have dipped by more than 5% over the past 24 hours. The dip comes following the broader cryptocurrency market’s poor performance over the last two weeks.

Bitcoin reached a new all-time high at $69k earlier this year. However, it is now down by more than 20% from that price. BTC is currently down by more than 7% and is trading below the $55k level for the first time since October.

Ether is also suffering huge losses after losing more than 8% of its value over the past few hours. ETH is currently struggling to stay above the $4,000 level following the recent losses. The losses recorded by Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies are tied to the general performance of the global financial markets.

A new Coronavirus strain was discovered in South Africa earlier today, and the news has sent shock waves across the global financial markets. Stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies, with the exception of a few, are all trading in the red zone at the time of this report.

BTC and ETH Could Experience Further Losses

The losses could get bigger over the coming hours and days if more investors react to the current news. The possibility of another round of lockdown could also affect the prices of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies.

The BTC/USD chart is looking bearish at the moment, with the MACD line below the neutral zone. Meanwhile, the RSI could drop below 35 soon, indicating that Bitcoin is currently oversold and could record further losses over the coming hours.

BTC and ETH remain positive in terms of yearly performance. The coins have added more than 100% to their values since the start of the year despite the recent poor performances.