The highly-anticipated Santa Claus rally has yet to materialize as Bitcoin continues its downward trajectory, recently dropping below the critical $94,000 mark.
The altcoin landscape is similarly bleak, with XRP experiencing a significant decline of 6% and XLM following closely behind.
BTC Fails at Recovery
The end of 2024 has proven to be a challenging period for Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency’s decline began on December 17 when it was valued above $108,000. In just three days, Bitcoin lost nearly $16,000, plunging to approximately $92,000.
In response, bulls attempted to reverse the trend, curtailing further drops below $90,000. Bitcoin exhibited a brief recovery, managing to spike towards $100,000 multiple times; however, these efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. The most recent attempt occurred on December 26, when Bitcoin reached the $100,000 threshold but was swiftly rejected.
This rejection led to an accelerated decline, and over the weekend, Bitcoin fell to $95,000. The situation worsened in the last 24 hours, leading to an additional drop to $93,000. Despite a minor recovery off that level, Bitcoin remains over 1% down for the day.
The market capitalization of Bitcoin has now dwindled to under $1.860 trillion, maintaining a 54% dominance over alternative cryptocurrencies.
XRP Keeps Bleeding
The altcoin market continues to suffer, with XRP leading the charge downwards. Currently, XRP is on the verge of breaking below the $2 mark, and analysts warn that should it fall below this level, a further decline towards $1 could ensue.
XLM has also experienced a significant drop, losing nearly 5% and trading below $0.35. Other prominent cryptocurrencies such as BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, TRX, AVAX, LINK, and TON are also facing declines, albeit less severe.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has dropped by another $60 billion in the past day, now standing at $3.430 trillion.
As the market battles through these tough times, it remains to be seen how the final days of 2024 will unfold for Bitcoin and its altcoin counterparts.
