Crypto Market Daily Highlights – ETH and ADA Lead Top Ten Meltdown

Key Insights:

• It was a bearish Friday session for the crypto top ten, with Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) leading the extended sell-off.
• Investor angst over Fed monetary policy weighed on riskier assets, with a NASDAQ 100 pullback adding to the bearish mood.
• The bearish session left the total crypto market cap down $98.9 billion to $979.71 billion.

It was a bearish session for the crypto top ten. Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled to sub-$21,000 before a partial recovery. Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) led the way down, however.

There were no US economic indicators to send the crypto market into a tailspin. However, hawkish FOMC member chatter from Thursday set the tone going into the weekend.

FOMC member James Bullard leaned in favor of a 75-basis point hike. FOMC member Mary Daly, speaking early in the Thursday session, reportedly favored a 50 or 75 basis point move. Significantly, both also talked of a rise-and-hold strategy rather than reversing course at a later date.

The NASDAQ 100 also succumbed to the flight to safety, adding further pressure on the crypto market that extended the sell-off beyond the US closing bell.

The Total Crypto Market Cap Slides to sub-$1,000 on Fed Chatter

On Friday, the total crypto market cap slid from a high of $1,078 billion to a final hour low of $973.99 billion. The crypto market tumbled by $99 billion in response to Thursday’s hawkish FOMC member chatter that talked of an end to free money.

The Friday sell-off also left the crypto market cap down $79 billion for August, raising the prospects of a fourth monthly decline from five.

The Crypto Market Movers and Shakers from the Top Ten and Beyond

It was a bearish Friday session for the crypto top ten.

ETH and ADA led the way, sliding by 12.85% and 12.11%, respectively.

BTC (-10.21%), DOGE (-9.31%), SOL (-9.35%), and XRP (-9.62%) weren’t far behind, while BNB saw a relatively modest 6.31% fall.

From the CoinMarketCap top 100, it is a bearish session.

Trust Wallet Token (TWT) and Celsius (CEL) bucked the broader market trend, with gains of 1.57% and 2.10%, respectively.

However, STEPN (GMT) and Filecoin (FIL) saw losses of 15.19% and 13.50%, respectively. Lido DAO (LDO) led the way down, sliding by 16.95%.

Total Crypto Liquidations Spike in a Crypto Market Meltdown

This morning, total liquidations surged over 24 hours, with investor sentiment towards the Fed leading to a slide in BTC long positions.

At the time of writing, 24-hour liquidations stood at $639 million, up from $57 million on Friday morning.

Liquidated traders spiked over the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, liquidated traders stood at 149,854 versus 30,221 on Friday morning. Liquidations over 12 hours, 4 hours, and the last hour reflected volatile market conditions.

According to Coinglass, 12-hour liquidations stood at $144.05 million up from $36.43, with 4-hour liquidations rising from $7.12 million to $94.04 million. One-hour liquidations jumped from $1.33 million to $19.36 million. The liquidation figures reflected deteriorating market conditions over the Friday session, with the one-hour numbers suggesting choppy waters ahead. (See hourly crypto market cap chart below).