Altcoins slide to begin the week while bitcoin and ether stabilize

The crypto market was lower to start the week after bitcoin posted its worst week since May.

Bitcoin was higher by just 0.02% at the $26,136.36, according to Coin Metrics. Last week, it lost 11% due to a sharp decline that began Wednesday afternoon. Ether was lower by 0.18% at $1,674

Altcoins were making bigger moves to the downside on Monday, however. Ripple’s XRP slid nearly 5%. Coins tied to Ethereum competitors Solana, Polygon and Cardano lost about 3% each. DeFi tokens fell also. The Cosmos token lost more than 3% and Uniswap’s coin was 2% lower.

“External pressure in China is likely the biggest driver to the sell-offs,” said Chris Martin, head of research at Amberdata. “Asia plays a huge role in crypto, especially with Hong Kong and Singapore opening the door, but with a wider economic downturn, I don’t think we’ll see the bull market play out like we hoped or expected.”

“As for bitcoin and ether, they tend to act more as a store of value compared to other cryptocurrencies, but they’ve also suffered from a significant drop — 11.5% and 9.8%, respectively, since the last 7 days — so they’re completely immune,” he added. “In general, altcoin swings are more prominent, and I think as more institutions onboard — through spot ETFs, spot investments, derivatives — we should see these tokens’ volatility subside a bit more.”

Bitcoin had been stagnant for much of the third quarter, a historically weak one for the cryptocurrency. It’s now off 14% for the quarter and about 10% for August. Many expected an approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund or some clear crypto legislation out of Congress to usher in some upside volatility. Instead, new focus by the Federal Reserve on real rates as well as the U.S. bankruptcy protection filing by China’s Evergrande put downward pressure on crypto.

Despite recent softness in the market, even ahead of the dramatic slide last week, bitcoin is still up about 57% in 2023.