Overnight on 16–17 November, Bitcoin’s price dragged most altcoins into the red zone, with the exception of AVAX and NEAR.
The ‘yo-yo’ dynamics
Just about a day earlier, Bitcoin was again testing local highs near $38,000, before later sitting at the lower edge of the resistance line.
Such dynamics illustrate the asset’s high volatility. The two-day roller-coaster moves led to liquidations of about $340 million, according to Coinglass.
Ethereum fell 4% in 24 hours to $1,980. Even a modest uptick on news about the BlackRock’s spot ETF application on the asset did not offset the impact of the leading cryptocurrency’s decline.
Native Solana (SOL) and Chainlink’s own token (LINK) fell by 12.6% and 7.4%, respectively.
On November 16, the US Securities and Exchange Commission delayed decisions on spot Bitcoin-ETFs filings from Hashdex and Grayscale. Analysts at K33 noted that the regulator’s lack of response this week could stall the crypto market’s momentum until the next deadline at the start of 2024.
Standout performers
Against the backdrop of the broader decline, the Avalanche (AVAX) token showed impressive resilience. While Bitcoin declined, the asset moved higher, rising 5.3%.
At the time of writing, AVAX was trading at $22.83, up more than 76% over the week.
Likely, the asset drew strength from Avalanche’s inclusion in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s tokenisation initiative, Project Guardian.
Additionally, JPMorgan’s subsidiary Onyx Digital Assets tested portfolio management using Avalanche and Provenance app chains appchains, which could also have served as a catalyst for AVAX.
NEAR Protocol likewise did not react to the correction — in 24 hours, the NEAR token gained 8%, and more than 30% over the week. At the time of writing, the Layer-1 blockchain’s token was trading at $1.87.
The asset showed positive momentum against the backdrop of Nearcon. On the conference, developers spoke about a new governance system for the protocol, presented a multi-chain system, and announced new collaborations with Polygon and LayerZero.
Earlier, JPMorgan described the crypto rally as ‘excessive’, capable of reversing sharply after the anticipated approval of a Bitcoin ETF.