Even though all cryptocurrency markets are suffering from bearish momentum, some worrisome trends are emerging. The Ethereum price, for example, has lost nearly 20% in value over the past 24 hours. Such a steep loss is not entirely surprising, given Bitcoin’s downtrend, yet it seems Ethereum’s reign of being the second-largest cryptocurrency may come to an end pretty soon.
What is Happening to the Ethereum Price?
Even though the year 2017 has created a very bullish Ethereum price scenario, it seems most of those gains are being wiped out as we speak. Whereas one Ether was almost worth $1,400 just a few months ago, it is not losing value quicker than virtually any other coin on the market. All of this further confirms the “flippening” will not happen anytime soon.
Ever since January 15th has come around, we have seen the Ethereum price dip lower and lower nearly every week. This past week has been extremely bearish for al cryptocurrency markets, effectively pushing the Ethereum price down from $725 to $466. Whether or not that latter value is the new bottom, remains to be seen, but right now, it seems things will only get worse from here on out.
It is unclear why the Ethereum price is declining so much. While ETH loses value against Bitcoin – like most altcoins – it seems to do so in a far more spectacular fashion compared to other currencies. The last 24 hours alone saw a decrease in the ETH/BTC ratio by a whopping 13.32%.
With almost $2bn in 24-hour trading volume, Ethereum remains one of the most liquid markets in all of cryptocurrency as of right now. This is a positive sign, although the current volume is mainly made up of sellers looking to push the Ethereum price down even further. If this trend keeps up, we will see Ether drop below $400 before the day is over. A worrisome outlook, although it is only normal, given the current circumstances.
Unsurprisingly, Bitfinex remains the largest exchange for Ether trading as of right now. Their USD market is $69m ahead of GDAX’s USD market and almost twice that of Huobi’s USDT market. OKEx and Binance complete the top five with their own USDT markets respectively. This seems to confirm people are converting Ether to and from fiat currencies, although it remains to be seen if any positive momentum can be established in the near future.
For the time being, people who hold Ethereum for the long run may want to stop paying attention to the daily Ethereum price chart. This current trend is extremely bearish and things will not improve until Bitcoin picks up the pace. As of right now, Bitcoin seems poised to go well below $7,000 later today, which will trigger even more sell-offs in the altcoin department. A very gut-wrenching weekend for long-term holders of any cryptocurrency, that much is evident.
