Bitcoin falls below $40,000 as market capitalisation slips below $2 trillion

The price of the leading cryptocurrency continued the slide that began on February 17 and by Friday morning, February 18, had fallen through the $41,000 level. In the last 24 hours the asset declined by 7.2%, according to CoinGecko.

18 February 2022 | 17:39Update:

The price of the leading cryptocurrency slipped below $40,000 after the opening of the U.S. stock market.

At the time of writing, quotes hovered around $40,760. The BTC dominance index stood at 39.7%.

Traditionally, following the leader, assets in the top-10 by market capitalization also moved into the red, with the exception of stablecoins USDT and USDC. Terra (LUNA) posted the largest loss, down 9.1% over the past 24 hours.

On Tuesday, February 15, the total market capitalization exceeded the $2 trillion mark amid revived investor demand for blue-chip and illiquid crypto assets. At the time of writing, the gauge stood at $1.9 trillion.

According to CoinDesk, Edward Moy, senior analyst at the brokerage OANDA, cited “short-term geopolitical risks and potentially overly aggressive monetary policy tightening” by the ФРС.

Following yesterday’s trading session, the S&P 500 fell 2.12% to 4,380.26 points, the Nasdaq down 2.88% to 13,716.72 points.

ExoAlpha managing partner David Lifshitz told Cointelegraph that geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine are the main news topic driving ‘softness in global markets.’

He suggested the situation “looks like a distraction from the problem of real yields and inflation.” Lifshitz argues that Bitcoin is retreating to a range between $30,000 and $50,000.

“If there is no significant breakout below $33,000 or above $48,000, swing trading will continue, and altcoins will follow the movement with large amplitude,” said the ExoAlpha partner.

Not everyone shares the bearish view. An analyst using the pseudonym IncomeSharks noted that Bitcoin is “a stronger asset than people give it credit for.”

With everything that has happened over the years how can you not be bullish knowing #Bitcoin is still worth over $40 000? It continues to be worth more almost every single year since it’s inception. This is a stronger asset than people give credit.

— IncomeSharks (@IncomeSharks) February 17, 2022

“Given everything that has happened over the years, how can you not be bullish knowing that Bitcoin is still worth more than $40,000? It has continued to rise almost every year since its inception,” he wrote.

Earlier, FSInsight predicted that the price of Bitcoin could reach $200,000 in the second half of 2022.

Back on February 17, JPMorgan senior strategist David Kelly warned of a crypto market crash after the Fed’s rate hike.

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