Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot bleed up to 9%

New Delhi: The cryptocurrency market extended its losses on Tuesday ahead of the much-awaited US Fed meeting as investors sought signals for tapering and rate hikes.

As many as six out of the top 10 digital tokens were trading lower at 9.30 IST. Terra and Polkadot were holding mild gains whereas Cardano shed 6 per cent.

The global crypto market cap declined more than 5 per cent to $2.13 trillion mark compared to the last day. However, the total crypto market volume soared as much as 38 per cent to $97.03 billion.

Cryptocurrency products and funds posted net inflows of $88 million last week, data from digital asset manager CoinShares showed on Monday, amid a mixed investment flows picture in a week that saw a drop in prices.

The crypto market took a sizable hit over the past 24 hours after a profit booking session, said Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex. "Total traded volumes jumped more than 40% as traders rushed for cover. Over the coming 24 hours, we can expect the market to remain volatile," he added.

What's cooking in India
Indian crypto investors are turning towards stablecoins that are pegged to real-world currencies like the US dollar as a hedge against rising volatility in Bitcoin and other altcoins like Ethereum, Solano, Polkadot, and Shiba Inu, even as the Indian government moves to regulate or ban crypto assets.

Expert Take
Ahead of the Fed’s meeting to decide on its monetary stance, markets have taken a major tumble. It seems many are pricing in the potential winding down of bond purchases and the commencement of rate hikes starting next year and are reducing their exposure to risk assets accordingly, said CoinDCX Research Team.

"Coupled with this, the ongoing debt crisis in China and Europe, as well as the excess ‘fat’ prevailing in global asset valuations, a bear market could very much be on the horizon. Calculated risk management is key at this juncture and leverage should generally be avoided" it added.

Global updates
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned banks and other regulated financial firms on Monday that they should be "especially cautious" about holding volatile crypto assets until regulators put new rules in place.

Also, Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala has invested in the ecosystem around cryptocurrencies, such as block-chain technology, given the increase in the digital currency's market value, its CEO Khaldoon al-Mubarak told CNBC.

The Singapore affiliate of Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, said on Monday it will withdraw its local license application and wind down its digital payment token business in the broadly crypto-friendly city-state.


Tech View by Giottus Cryptocurrency Exchange
Bitcoin has fixed limits on the number of transactions it accommodates per block in its blockchain. As a result, it has faced several scalability issues - in terms of transaction times and fees. At peak network congestion, users had to wait days (and pay fees to the tune of $60) for their transactions.

Failure to arrive at a consensus to fix these issues led to the birth of Bitcoin Cash, a fork of Bitcoin in August 2017, with a higher block size to enable cheaper transactions. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) started off well in 2021, rising to $1,500 by May from below $300.


It has corrected heavily and is now trading around the $400-450 range. It has formed several bear flags since November and is currently at the bottom of a parallel channel where it has found support. If another bear flag plays out, BCH could see a drop to the low $300s. However, it should find some support at $380 and $340.

On the upside, BCH will need to contend with the Fibonacci retracements of its recent rise at $440 and $464. These, however, are minor resistances, and BCH may move quickly to recover the vector candle (high volume candles) of its recent crash. Such a move should take it to $490 and possible $515, contingent on Bitcoin remaining optimistic.

Major Levels
Support: $420, $380, $340
Resistance: $440, $464

Time is in UTC and the daily time frame is 12:00 AM - 12:00 PM UTC

(Views and recommendations given in this section are the analysts' own and do not represent those of ETMarkets.com. Please consult your financial adviser before taking any position in the asset/s mentioned.)