Top Cryptocurrencies See Red After Bitcoin Suffers Flash Crash

Several major cryptocurrencies suffered losses today, pushing lower after bitcoin declined significantly in a relatively short period of time.

Of the 1o top digital assets listed on Messari, nine were in the red at the time of this writing.

Bitcoin, ether and cardano’s ada, the top three cryptocurrencies, were all down at least 10% in the last 24 hours at the time of report, additional Messari figures show.

XRP and Polkadot’s dot token were down even more, having plunged more than 20% during the same 24-hour period.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]

Bitcoin’s Flash Crash

These across-the-board losses took place after bitcoin fell sharply, dropping below $43,000 around 11:30 a.m. EST after trading north of $52,000 earlier in the day.

Several market observers emphasized that bitcoin suffered this downside amid robust selling activity.

Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency hedge fund manager BitBull Capital, spoke to this, noting that “today’s BTC crash was a result of significant selling with high volumes.”

He also spoke to the impact that this downward movement had on other cryptocurrencies, adding that “Bitcoin’s sharp decline shook market confidence, resulting in losses all around.”

El Salvador

Interestingly enough, major digital currencies suffered widespread declines the exact same day that El Salvador started adopting bitcoin as legal tender, making it the first country to do so. While many welcomed this milestone, it coincided with significant volatility.

This event introduced greater uncertainty into the cryptocurrency markets, said John Iadeluca, founder & CEO of multi-strategy fund Banz Capital.

“I think there has been uncertainty associated with the reception of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador recently which seems to be pushing Bitcoin’s, and subsequently the wider crypto markets’ prices downward,” he stated.

Markets responded strongly, and the situation devolved into panic selling, said Iadeluca.

David Schwartz, project director of the Litecoin Foundation, also weighed in, stating that while whatever started this whole market downturn was “probably coordinated,” the whole situation “spilled into some panic selling.”

Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether and EOS.