Top 3 Trending Coins: BCH Slides Under $100, MATIC Underperforms, LEO Holds Firm

Key Points

• Cryptocurrencies are under pressure on Thursday in tandem with stocks as investors fret about familiar themes.
• Bitcoin dropped under $19,000 and Ethereum is eyeing a move under $1,000, with both eyeing a test of annual lows.
• Polygon is the worst top 50 crypto performer and Bitcoin Cash is another notable underperformer, while LEO holds up better.

Cryptocurrencies are broadly selling off on Thursday, with Bitcoin down close to 5.0% and Ethereum down close to 8.5% in the last 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap. Total cryptocurrency market cap was last around $830 billion, down nearly $140 billion or close to 15% since Sunday following five successive negative sessions.

The latest wave of selling pressure has seen Bitcoin drop back under the $19,000 level for the first time since 19 June, with bears now eyeing a test of earlier annual lows in the $17,500 area. Ethereum, meanwhile, is holding above the $1,000 level, but is looking precarious as the bears eye a test of sub-$900 annual lows.

Crypto prices are tracking downside in the global equity space as investors fret about the familiar themes of inflation, slowing global growth and aggressive central bank tightening. The MSCI World Equity Index was last down 0.7% on Thursday and on course for its worst first-half performance of any year since the indice’s creation.

Traders are nervous that upcoming US Core PCE inflation data at 1230GMT on Thursday might highlight a continued build-up of US price pressures, which would strengthen the Fed’s conviction that it needs to continue with aggressive tightening after a 75 bps interest rate hike earlier this month (which was the largest hike in 28 years).

Cryptocurrencies are seen as highly speculative assets which, alongside upstart tech stocks, are amongst the first assets that investors choose to sell when they want to position their portfolios more defensively.

Here is a list of the top three trending altcoins.

Polygon

The Polygon blockchain’s native MATIC token is the worst performer in the crypto top 50 in the last 24 hours on Thursday, according to data on CoinMarketCap, with losses of more than 18%. MATIC/USD has experienced a cascade of selling pressure in recent hours after it slumped below its 21-Day Moving Average and key support in the $0.47s.

At current levels in the $0.42s, Polygon is trading with losses of around 23.5% on the week. As the end of June approaches, the cryptocurrency is on course to post losses of over 35% on the month and of nearly 75% on the quarter. Polygon bears will be eyeing a retest of recent annual lows in the $0.31 area.

Polygon’s price has crashed on Thursday despite the news that the blockchain’s developers have deployed the new Avail scaling system.

Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash made headlines on Thursday as it fell under $100 per coin for the first time since December 2018. BCH/USD is down just under 4.5% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap, making it far from an underperformer in the crypto space on Thursday.

However, with the cryptocurrency currently ranks as the worst performer in the crypto top 50 (by market cap) over the last 30 days, with losses in excess of 50%. With key support in the form of the previous annual lows around $107 and the $100 level now taken out, Bitcoin Cash bears will be eyeing a test of the December 2018 all-time lows at $73.60.

Bitcoin Cash was also in the headlines on Wednesday after its value slipped to just 0.5% of Bitcoin’s, a new record low. BCH/BTC fell as low as 0.005, though has since rebounded to about 0.0052 on Thursday. Bitcoin Cash was created back in 2017 after a hardfork from the original Bitcoin blockchain, with BCH at one point shortly after the hardfork reaching a value of 0.43 BTC.

UNUS SED LEO

The Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange’s utility token UNUS SED LEO, seen as something of a safe haven in the crypto space by some owing to its deflationary tokenomics (Bitfinex has pledged to buy back and burn all tokens eventually), is the best performer in the crypto top 50 on Thursday. According to CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency is trading with gains of around 3.0% in the last 24 hours.

LEO/USD is once again probing the $6.0 level, a break above which could facilitate a push towards March highs in the $6.25 area, which is the last major hurdle of resistance ahead of the all-time highs above $8.0 per token. LEO’s 21, 50 and 200DMAs are all pointing higher and the price action is looking bullish, even as most other major cryptocurrencies have come under selling pressure this week.