Crypto Market Holds Breath as Year-to-Date Figures Reveal Harsh Reality
The crypto market has been relatively quiet today, with hourly moves within a few hundredths of a percent of flat. However, when looking at year-to-date figures, the story is far harsher.
Bitcoin is down 28% this year, and most large-cap assets have lost between a third and half their value since January. Only three assets in the top 15 are still in the green for 2026: Hyperliquid, TRON, and UNUS SED LEO.
Bitcoin's price has been holding steady at $63,018, up 0.06% on the hour but down 1.23% on the day. Ethereum is at $1,865, up 0.10% on the hour and down 0.90% on the day.
The year-to-date figures for most assets are dire, with Cardano down 48%, XRP down 42%, and Solana down 41%. However, Zcash and Monero have been holding up relatively well, with losses of only 9.59% and 16.25% respectively.
The divergence between these two groups is stark, with the large-cap alt sector having given up roughly a third more than privacy assets. One explanation for this could be that privacy demand is genuinely uncorrelated with risk appetite, but another possibility is that both have small floats and low volumes.