Top 10 cryptocurrencies slammed as Bitcoin plunges below $50,000

Crypto isn’t a market for the faint of heart, but even the toughest investors were white-knuckling it on Monday as Bitcoin and other tokens gave back months worth of gains.

Bitcoin has plunged almost 18% in the last 24 hours, to $50,143, in mid-afternoon trading UK time. And Ether has skidded 24%, according to CoinGecko.

The total market value for the sector is off 17%, at $1.8 trillion.

Solana tumbles

Even Solana, the crypto darling this year, has been swept up in the sell-off.

In the first seven months of 2024, Solana’s SOL token soared 76%, easily trouncing Ethereum’s 44% run-up in that period.

But in the last seven days SOL, the fifth most valuable cryptocurrency, has sunk 42% compared to Ether’s 35%.

Of course, it’s no surprise that investors would prefer stalwarts such as Bitcoin and Ether in turbulent cycles.

But not even the advent of Ethereum exchange-traded funds, which were launched in the US on July 23, has not prevented the second most valuable cryptocurrency from sliding to $2,279, a whopping 44% off its 2024 high in March.

While this crash wasn’t cause by crypto at all — there’s no FTX-like scandal, no Terra-like meltdown — it’s cold comfort for investors who were feeling pretty groovy about crypto’s bounceback year.

Yet worries the US economy is slowing down coupled with a historic selloff in Japan’s stock market, is fanning something close to a panic in global markets.

And crypto, a “risk-on” asset that increasingly depends on the very macroeconomic forces it was supposed to obviate, has been dragged into the vortex.

Here’s how other top cryprocurrencies are faring:

BNB

BNB, the exchange token of the Binance crypto exchange, has lost 17% of its price over the past 24 hours to trade at $436. It is down 25% over the past seven days.

XRP

Ripple-linked XRP is down 17% over the past 24 hours to trade at $0.456. It is down 23% over the past seven days.

Lido Staked Ether

Lido’s staked Ether solution is down 22% over the past 24 hours to trade at $2,263, making it the biggest loser over the past day. It is down 31% over the past seven days.

Toncoin

Toncoin is down 13% over the past 24 hours to trade at $5.19.

That makes it the top 10 cryptocurrency that has lost the least of its price over the past day.

It is down 22% over the past seven days.

Dogecoin

Dogecoin is down 20% over the past 24 hours to trade at $34.90. It is down 35% over the past seven days.

Cardano

Charles Hoskinson’s Cardano is down 17% over the past 24 hours to trade at $0.296. It is down 28% over the past seven days.

TRON

Crypto celebrity founder Justin Sun’s TRON is down 15% over the past 24 hours to trade at $0.119.

However, by only losing 14% of its value the past seven days, TRON has lost the least of its price among the top 10.

Eric Johansson is DL News’ News Editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.