Crypto Market Sees Broad Declines as Bitcoin Holds Steady Near $78,000
Bitcoin held steady near $78,000 on Thursday morning, but the broader cryptocurrency market saw significant losses. The largest cryptocurrency dropped 2% over 24 hours and 0.23% since midnight UTC, according to CoinDesk Indices data.
The decline wiped out Wednesday's advance and left Bitcoin 5.1% below its $82,284 high reached last week. Ether also fell, down 1.9% over 24 hours, while BNB posted the worst performance among large-cap cryptocurrencies, losing 5.1%.
Only five constituents of the CoinDesk 100 index were higher over 24 hours, and the index itself dropped 3.7%. The selling was concentrated in speculative assets, with the CoinDesk Memecoin Index falling 10% and the small-cap CoinDesk 80 losing 5.1%, compared to a 2.3% drop for the CoinDesk 5.
Derivatives positioning showed that futures sentiment turned bearish again, with traders building shorts in anticipation of further declines. Open interest increased by just over 1% despite the price drop, indicating more aggressive shorting.