Is an ‘Altpocalypse’ Imminent? Altcoins Plunge to Historic Technical Lows
Bitcoin’s slide to a multi-month low Thursday erased significant market value, but altcoins bore the brunt of the sell-off as their aggregate market capitalization briefly breached the $900 billion floor. According to Coingecko data, the altcoin market fell below this key threshold twice in a 24-hour window.
The first breach came shortly after noon on Wednesday, when a market-wide rout briefly chopped the total to $872 billion. The aggregate altcoin market cap rebounded past $950 billion by midnight, holding steady until a second sell-off at 9 a.m. EST forced a retest of the $872 billion low. The total has since stabilized around $900 billion.
The aggressive sell-off has raised concerns of a looming “altpocalypse.” The crypto total market capitalization excluding bitcoin, ether, and stablecoins index, known as TOTAL3ES, has dropped to its lowest one-month relative strength index ( RSI) reading ever—tying the lows seen during the historic FTX meltdown. Analysts warn that any further drop would push the monthly RSI to a lower low with bearish confirmation, driving it toward oversold levels below 30 for the first time in history.
Leading the current leg of the altcoin decline were key high-cap assets like ethereum ( ETH), which plunged to a new year-to-date low of $1,531. Market data show that ETH, whose market capitalization accounts for one-fifth of the aggregate altcoin market cap, declined by nearly 3% during the period. Since June 1, when it traded just above $2,000, ETH has declined 21%, helping drag the total altcoin market cap down from $1.1 trillion to $900 billion.
BNB, the No. 2 altcoin by market capitalization, dropped a modest 1.2% in 24 hours while XRP, which logged a fresh year-to-date low of $1.01, fell 2.5%. The story was the same for several high-cap altcoins, which logged losses exceeding 2%. XLM and XMR registered declines of 4.4% and 4.7%, respectively.
HYPE was one of the few notable outliers, jumping 3.7% during the period, while LAB, the only digital asset with double-digit gains over the last seven days, was virtually unchanged, trading at $18.21.
