The sharp crypto sell-off followed July’s PPI inflation report and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s statement ruling out more Bitcoin Reserve purchases.
The altcoin rally lost steam in midday trade on Thursday as Bitcoin (BTC) plunged from its record high above $124,000, triggering more than $1 billion in liquidations over the past 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH), the largest altcoin in the crypto market, shed 1.9% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum’s price went from being above $4,700 in early morning trade to under $4,600 at midday as retail sentiment on Stocktwits slipped lower but remained in ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past day.
Despite cooling from its morning highs, Cardano’s ADA (ADA) still led gains across the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market value. Cardano’s price was up 5.6% in midday trade, trading at around $0.91. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the cryptocurrency remained in ‘extremely bullish’ territory, up from ‘neutral’ a day ago, as chatter also increased to ‘high’ levels.
Meanwhile, Dogecoin (DOGE) led the altcoin slide, followed by Ripple’s native token XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL). Dogecoin’s price fell more than 7% over the past day while XRP’s price slipped 5.5%. While Solana’s price shed 2% in the last 24 hours, it’s still holding onto gains of over 14% over the past week.
The drastic dip in crypto prices came after July’s producer price index (PPI) inflation report came in hotter than expected, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the country’s Bitcoin Reserve would not involve buying more of the apex cryptocurrency. He stated the reserve would be built using digital assets that the government had already confiscated.
Meanwhile, PPI rose 0.9% in July on a month-on-month basis and 3.3% year-on-year. Core PPI, which excludes food and energy prices, also climbed 0.9% in July with a year-on-year gain of 3.7%. Jobless data was in line with expectations but showed a tight situation with initial jobless claims for the week ending August 9 at 224,000 and continuing claims steady at 1.95 million.
CMC’s Altcoin Season Index currently stands at 40. Its prior yearly high was in December last year, when it hit 87. According to CMC, altcoin season begins when 75% of the top 50 altcoins outperform Bitcoin over a 90-day period.
Read also: Scott Bessent Says US Bitcoin Reserve Worth At Least $15 Billion, No Plans To Buy More BTC
For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<