This week, the cryptocurrency market continued to fall. Currently, Bitcoin is trading around 4247.00 (–23.2%), Ripple is at 0.4000 (–19.3%), Ethereum is at 123.00 (–29.2%), Stellar is at 0.1860 (–18.5%) and Bitcoin Cash (BTHABC), which fell to fifth place in capitalization, is trading around 200.00 (–38.5%). The overall market capitalization continued to decline, decreasing from 185 to 140 billion dollars. Bitcoin's share rose to 53.6%.
According to most experts, the current downward trend has begun after the hardfork of Bitcoin Cash. It made the trades worry about the loss of productivity and a decrease in the speed of transactions in BTH and BTC networks. This has led to significant sales of cryptocurrency assets and the withdrawal of some investors in stablecoins. As a result, the capitalization of the new currencies Circle (USDC), True USD (TUSD), and Dai (DAI) grew by more than 200% this week. The fall of the cryptocurrency market was accompanied by a general decrease in network hashrate. In particular, the Ethereum network hashrate decreased by 25% from August peak values, and the Bitcoin network hashrate fell by 12% from October peak values.
During the week, the cryptocurrency market continued to monitor the effects of Bitcoin Cash hardfork. The currency was divided into two competing assets: Bitcoin ABC (continuation of the original BCH) and Bitcoin SV (version with upgraded software). By the end of the week, several cryptocurrency exchanges (Huobi, Coinbase) assigned the BCH ticker to the Bitcoin ABC currency. So far, Bitcoin SV loses to a competitor in the price and volume of hashrate. However, the sale of new assets on most sites is only partially allowed, and Coinbase has temporarily banned investors from withdrawing funds from operations with these currencies. This decision caused a negative reaction of users since both assets are falling.
Probably, the next week the cryptocurrency market may continue to decline, or most currencies will stabilize within narrow sideways ranges. There is no prerequisite for a significant upward correction expected.