Bitcoin and the rest of the market start the week in the red

The leading cryptocurrency and the broader altcoin market recorded sharp price declines overnight. Which coins and tokens were hit particularly hard.

The Bitcoin-price plunged at the beginning of the week and initially continued to perform moderately after the halving.

Since midnight, the price has fallen from about $63,650 to a provisional low of $62,211, data from Tradingview show. Over the entire week, the leading cryptocurrency fell more than five percent.

While price losses for cryptocurrencies number one are manageable, some altcoins were hit much harder. Celestia (TIA), Near Protocol (NEAR), Arbitrum (ARB) and Solana (SOL) fell more than five percent. On a weekly basis, the price losses of these coins are in the double digits.

The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies fell 2.4 percent at the beginning of the week, as shown in data from Coingecko. An overview of all courses can be found here.

Number two Ethereum gained some strength against Bitcoin, on the other hand. Although the ETH price also fell 2.4 percent overnight. Ether, however, maintained its level over the week.

The layer 1 blockchain Kaspa (KAS) and the DeFi Ribbon Finance (RBN) also performed well. Both rose more than five percent in the past 24 hours, making up for some of their weekly losses.

The reason for declining risk sentiment is likely the upcoming macroeconomic events this week.

On May 1, the U.S. Federal Reserve will publish its third interest rate decision in 2024. Given rising inflation rates, investors are increasingly counting on interest rate cuts. This has also recently put pressure on crypto markets.