Bitcoin Falls Beneath $40K, Dragging Crypto Economy Below $2 Trillion

On Thursday evening around 10 p.m. (EST), the price of bitcoin fell beneath the $40K zone for the first time since September 21, 2021. During Friday’s early morning trading sessions, bitcoin plunged to a low of $38,250 per coin. Furthermore, the market capitalization of the entire crypto-economy has slipped under the $2 trillion mark, down 7.5% to $1.94 trillion.

Bitcoin Sheds 8% Over the Last 24 Hours, Down 40% From November’s All-Time High

The price of bitcoin (BTC) dropped below the $40K zone for the first time in 122 days. BTC lost roughly 8% during the last 24 hours and during the last month, bitcoin has shed 21% against the U.S. dollar.

Bitcoin’s 24-hour price range has been between $43,508 and $38,250 per unit. At the time of writing, BTC has a market valuation of around $735.8 billion. Bitcoin’s market valuation is around 38% of the $1.94 trillion crypto-economy today, while ethereum’s (ETH) market cap is 17.7%.

The top trading pair with BTC on Friday is tether (USDT) with 51.86% of all trades. Tether is followed by the U.S. dollar with 21.75% and the stablecoin BUSD with 7.71%. BUSD is followed by EUR (4.86%), JPY (4.25%), KRW (3.05%), and USDC (1.69%).

The second-largest crypto asset, ethereum (ETH), is down 9.1% over the last 24 hours and 29.1% during the last month. ETH’s 24-hour price range has been between $3,271 and $2,809 per unit.

While ETH’s dominance is 17.7% it represents $340.9 billion out of the $1.94 trillion crypto economy. The most dominant trading pairs with ETH on Friday include USDT (48.83%), USD (22.75%), BUSD (9.34%), BTC (6.07%), EUR (4.38%), and KRW (3.32%).

Out of all 12,000+ crypto-assets in existence, only five coins are up in terms of weekly gains. Theta fuel, ftx token, bittorrent old, osmosis, and ecomi still hold single-digit seven-day price increases compared to the rest of the crypto economy.

This week’s biggest losers include loop ring, pocket network, kadena, harmony, and near. All five of these coins lost 25% to 33% of their value during the last week.

Delta Exchange CEO Says ‘Overall Outlook Remains Bearish,’ Globalblock Analyst Suggests Bitcoin May Be Undervalued

On Friday morning, Pankaj Balani, CEO of Delta Exchange, shared his analysis of bitcoin’s current market price with Bitcoin.com News. Balani says that the current outlook continues to remain in the bear’s favor.

“BTC slipped below the psychological support of 40K amid continued sell-off in risky assets. With this fall Bitcoin has corrected ~40% since hitting ATH in November last year,” Balani said. “We expect BTC to find a bid around the 35K mark, close to 50% from the top. In the short term, we can bounce to challenge the 45K-50K zone but the overall outlook remains bearish as liquidity remains tight.”

Marcus Sotiriou, analyst at the U.K.-based digital asset broker Globalblock, suggests that BTC may currently be undervalued.

“It is important to note that the crypto fear and greed index remains in extreme levels of fear – this usually represents a buying opportunity,” Sotiriou explained. “Also, on-chain metrics continue to be bullish, as net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL), which shows the magnitude of Bitcoin holder unrealized profit and loss, as a proportion of the Market Cap, is currently trading at 0.43, the lowest level of network profitability since July 2021.” The Globalblock analyst added:

This emphasizes the fear surrounding the market now, as many are capitulating at a loss. These metrics suggest that Bitcoin is undervalued at current price levels due to what has happened in previous episodes of extreme fear.