Bitcoin drags crypto down

Market overview

The crypto market capitalisation fell to $3.91 trillion, down 2% in the past day and 3.5% from last week’s peak, as Bitcoin came under pressure following Friday’s surge. The dynamics on Sunday were noteworthy, when the sell-off of the first cryptocurrency coincided with Ethereum setting historic highs. Solana is also doing well, adding 11% in 7 days, stronger than Ethereum’s 9% growth and against BTC’s 3% decline and the near-zero dynamics of the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation.

Bitcoin is trading at $112K, having fallen at one point to $110K, a new low since early July. Friday’s surge seems to have attracted new sellers, pushing the coin below its 50-day average. So far, it looks like liquidity is being transferred from BTC to ETH or other altcoins, such as SOL. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that all processes are starting in Bitcoin, and a similar shift to selling on growth is just around the corner in altcoins.

News background

The weekly inflow into spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US has been interrupted after two weeks of inflows. According to SoSoValue, the net outflow from spot BTC ETFs amounted to $1.17 billion last week, the highest since the end of February. Cumulative inflows since the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 have decreased to $53.80 billion.

A 14-week streak of net inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs in the US was also replaced by an outflow of $578.9 million, the highest in recorded history. Total net inflows since the launch of ETFs in July 2024 have fallen to $12.09 billion.

According to Lookonchain, a Bitcoin whale became active on Friday, selling more than 100 BTC that had been ‘dormant’ for seven years and investing the proceeds in Ethereum on the spot and futures markets. The crypto community viewed the whale’s actions as a positive signal for Ether.

Finally, the SEC recently approved the possibility of redeeming spot ETFs on BTC and ETH in kind, which will allow institutions to buy shares directly for cryptocurrency rather than converting them into cash.

The number of companies buying BTC daily is declining. According to investment fund Capriole, some metrics signal growing risks of a sell-off, which could be either a temporary downturn or a sign of market saturation.

The latest recalculation increased the difficulty of mining Bitcoin to a record 129.7T. The indicator rose by only 0.2% but updated its historical maximum. According to Glassnode, the average hash rate for seven days is 945 EH/s.