A slow bleed in crypto since late in the weekend accelerated into the early evening U.S. hours on Monday, leaving nearly the entirety of the sector sharply lower. With prices in quick retreat, bitcoin (BTC) at press time had fallen back to just above $95,000, down about 5% over the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) was down 10% to $3,590. The broader CoinDesk 20 Index was lower by more than 8% over the same time frame, led by roughly 20% dives for Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), and XRP (XRP). Over $750 million worth of leveraged derivatives positions were liquidated across all digital assets over the past day, CoinGlass data shows, the ovewhelming majority of which were bullish bets. That puts today's flush almost on par with the August 5 crash and just trailing last Thursday's wild swing when BTC plunged to $90,000 from above $100,000. There are some signs of waning momentum on the crypto markets, including declining exchange volumes and heavy profit-taking by long-term holders, analytics firm 10x Research pointed out in a Monday morning note. "This is likely to be only a brief consolidation phase before the bull market regains momentum," 10x Research founder Markus Thielen wrote in the report. "However, traders should now pay close attention to which positions are outperforming and which are underperforming, as the rally enters a phase where not everything will continue to rise. "To navigate this market effectively, traders should steer clear of weaker segments and focus on their core, high-conviction positions," he added. Traders on the options markets are increasingly positioning themselves for sideways price action until year-end, taking profits on their earlier bullish bets and potentially rolling positions out to early next year, digital asset hedge fund QCP noted in a Monday morning report. "Although we’re still structurally bullish, spot [price] is likely to range here for the remainder of the holiday season," the authors wrote.
