The cryptocurrency market faced a broad decline in the past 24 hours, with total market capitalization slipping 3.49% to $4.03 trillion. The drop follows a week of strong gains, during which Bitcoin hit fresh highs above $124,000. The Altcoin Season Index sits at 44/100, indicating that Bitcoin remains dominant, but altcoins are slowly gaining traction.
Bitcoin Leads the Decline but Holds Above $118K
Bitcoin (BTC) has pulled back 3.72% over the last 24 hours, trading near $118,895. This sell-off may simply be a cooling phase after overbought conditions, with Bitcoin still holding above important support levels.
Ethereum (ETH) fell 2.57% to around $4,635, giving back part of its recent 19% weekly gain. Solana (SOL) dropped 4.55% to $193.87, showing sharper losses as traders locked in profits after its recent double-digit surge. Cardano (ADA) was down 3.27% to $0.9288, extending its recent struggles to hold above the $1 mark.
Dogecoin and XRP See Steeper Losses
Meme favorite Dogecoin (DOGE) was one of the bigger losers in the top 10, dropping 8.72% to $0.2273.XRP (XRP) also posted a notable 6.38% drop to $3.10, erasing a chunk of its weekly gains.
Why the Market is Falling
One of the main triggers behind the sudden pullback is fresh macroeconomic data from the U.S. July’s core Producer Price Index (PPI) came in at 0.9%, higher than market expectations. This reading reduces the odds of the U.S. Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in September, a move that had been partly priced in by risk assets like crypto.
The disappointing inflation signal sparked a “risk-off” shift among investors, leading to sell-offs across equities and digital assets. The market is now bracing for the upcoming August 22 FOMC meeting, where Fed minutes will be released and officials are expected to give fresh guidance ahead of September’s policy decision.
