Why Are Bitcoin & Ethereum Prices Dropping? What’s Behind Today’s Crypto Market Correction?

Following a bullish weekly close, the crypto markets were believed to break above the bearish influence. Meanwhile, the fresh sell-offs restricted the rally, initiating a notable correction with the Bitcoin price struggling to hold above $75,000. Besides, Ethereum price slides below $2,300 and is currently trading around $2,270 vehicle XRP price plunges from $1.44 to $1.37. Moreover, the fear and greed index has slipped to 39, indicating the market sentiments have turned fearful. 

Why Crypto Market is Falling Today?

Crypto market cap is down by 2.53%, reaching $2.54 trillion with the volume rising close to $150 billion, hinting at excessive market participation. The markets are falling due to a combination of profit-taking and pre-FOMC meeting anxiety, causing a technical resistance rejection. Besides, deteriorating sentiment, ETF outflows, and increased selling volume are driving this downward movement, leading to over $281 million in long liquidations. 

On the other hand, hopes for a peace deal between the US and Iran have faded, which has driven crude oil prices. Therefore, stoking inflation fear could be pushing the investors away from the ‘risk assets’ like crypto. On the other hand, the crypto open interest has been consistently rising since March, reaching over $123 billion from the lows below $95 billion, out of which BTC OI accounts for $57 billion alone. 

This suggests the market volatility weighed on futures as the OI kept rising while demand relatively remained neutral. 

Bitcoin Price Slashes Below $76,000 Following Rejection

Bitcoin price has been on a bullish track since the start of the month, with the prices rising from the support below $65,000 to marking local highs close to $79,500. The rejection that followed was not very likely, as the momentum was largely favoring the bulls. However, the technicals suggest a small correction, but if the BTC price fails to defend a local support, the correction may go deeper by 10% to 11%. 

As seen in the above chart, the Bitcoin price just faced a rejection from the resistance of the rising parallel channel. A breakout was believed to push the levels beyond the bearish influence, while the rising selling pressure could drag the rally to the support zone. The RSI is bearish, while the CMF is positive. This suggests the momentum may fade, but the bulls could save the rally from a strong bearish trend. Until the price sustains above the range between $71,600 and $72,300, the hopes of a rebound remain alive; otherwise, a drop to $67,000 is imminent. 

Ethereum Price Also Faces a Negative Impact

While Bitcoin displays strength, the Ethereum price rally hints at a lack of trader interest. The price has been rising since the start of the month and reached the resistance of the rising parallel channel, similar to BTC. However, the key difference here is the couple of fakeouts that occurred before, suggesting less conviction among the traders. Hence, the current pullback is expected to intensify, dragging the levels back within the consolidated range between $2,000 and $2100. 

Following the rejection from the resistance, the Bollinger bands have begun to squeeze, suggesting periods of low volatility. On the other hand, the OBV has been trading almost flat with minor variations, signalling a consolidation phase, low conviction and a ‘wait-and-see’ approach by market participants. The trade setup suggests a highly compressed market experiencing a potential fakeout or a weak breakout as price rise is not backed by volume. Therefore, the ETH price is likely to drop back to the consolidated zone around $2,100 if failed to defend the support at $2,200.