In the past 24 hours, Ethereum, the leading altcoin, experienced a 5% decline amid a broader cryptocurrency market downturn that resulted in a massive liquidation exceeding $340 million. Bitcoin spearheaded this liquidation wave, suffering a substantial $94 million loss, closely followed by Ethereum, which saw a long-term sell-off totaling $80 million. Coinglass data revealed that within the last 12 hours, liquidations exceeded $335 million, with $300 million emanating from the liquidation of long positions.
Several other altcoins, including CRO from crypto.com, Tezos [XTZ], and Toncoin [TON], recorded declines surpassing 10% in the hourly index. The upcoming events of the US Consumer Price Index [CPI] release and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision this week are expected to contribute to sustained market volatility. While Bitcoin’s fluctuations are causing widespread repercussions, Ethereum faces additional challenges.
ETH is confronting potential sell pressure after surpassing the $2,300 mark, warns a crypto analyst. Notably, whales have been actively capitalizing on profits, raising concerns about triggering substantial sell pressure on the second-largest cryptocurrency globally.
Ethereum Volatility To Continue
Despite maintaining a unique market position driven by an extensive developer community, widespread adoption, and a pivotal role in decentralized finance [DeFi] and various blockchain applications, Ethereum’s earlier bullish momentum is now overshadowed by the looming influence of selling pressure from significant holders.
Prominent crypto analysts such as Ali predicted that in a bearish scenario, the largest altcoin might retest the $1,555 support level, and sustained selling pressure could drive its value as low as $1,460 within the next two months. Still, overall market sentiment remains cautiously optimistic, given Ethereum’s impressive year-to-date price increase of 96.5%.
While that is happening, Tim Beiko, Ethereum’s lead developer, provided insights into upcoming developments for the network in a recently concluded community meeting. As reported by TronWeekly, Beiko highlighted the anticipated Dencun hard fork of the Goerli testnet, revealing plans for execution in January 2024, contingent on the smooth progression of preparations. Most teams involved are reportedly ready for the testnet fork trial, with plans to conduct a Goerli shadow network fork in the ensuing weeks.