Crypto market crash today: reasons why altcoins are going down

The crypto market crash accelerated during the weekend, with Bitcoin moving below the key support level at $80,000 for the first time in months. It was trading at $78,678 on Sunday, down sharply from its all-time high of $126,300.

Ethereum price crashed to $2,400, while Binance Coin (BNB) fell to $770. The market capitalization of all tokens dropped by over 5.80% in the last 24 hours to $2.67 trillion. This article explores some of the top reasons behind the ongoing crypto crash.

Crypto market crash happened after Trump nominated Kevin Warsh

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One of the main reasons behind the ongoing crypto market crash is that Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to become the next Federal Reserve Chair when Jerome Powell’s term ends in May.

Warsh has recently supported the crypto industry. However, his support was likely because he really wanted the Federal Reserve Chairman job as he has previously blasted the industry.

The same is true with his views on interest rates. In his recent interviews, he has come out in support of lower interest rates. In reality, however, Warsh has always been an interest rate and inflation hawk.

He voted against interest rate cuts and quantitative easing policies in 2011. Most importantly, he has always maintained his opposition to quantitative easing.

Therefore, analysts believe that Warsh will maintain a hawkish view when he moves to the Federal Reserve just as Jerome Powell did.

Soaring liquidations fuelled the crypto crash

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The other main reason for the crypto market crash is the soaring liquidations and falling futures open interest.

Data compiled by CoinGlass shows that the futures open interest dropped by 10% in the last 24 hours to $113 billion.

At the same time, liquidations jumped by 348% in the last 24 hours to over $2.5 billion, the biggest increase in months.

Ethereum liquidations jumped to over $1.1 billion, while Bitcoin rose to over $785 million. Solana positions worth over $197 million, while XRP positions worth $61 million were liquidated.

These liquidations brought memories of October 10 when the crypto market experienced the biggest liquidation on record. Positions worth over $20 billion were wiped out on October 10 when Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on China.

Rising geopolitical tensions

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The crypto market crash is happening because of the rising geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran. Trump has threatened to attack Iran soon because of the recent protests in the country.

An attack on Iran would be bearish for the crypto market because of the impact on the energy market. Data shows that Brent, the global benchmark, has jumped to $70 for the first time in months.

The crypto market crash is also happening because Bitcoin’s role as a safe-haven asset has been debunked. Instead, investors have moved to other safe-haven assets like the Swiss franc and gold, which have soared in the past few months.

Bitcoin price technicals have contributed to the crash

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BTC price chart | Source: TradingView

Technicals have also contributed to the ongoing crypto crash. The weekly timeframe chart above shows that the coin formed a rising wedge pattern.

It also formed a bearish flag pattern, and moved below the 50-week Exponential Moving Average (EMA) and the Supertrend indicator. This pattern often leads to more downside, which will lead to more downside for Bitcoin and the crypto market.