- Will there be altseason? Altcoins experienced a steep sell-off, with ACT declining almost 60% after the departure of Bybit.
- Leverage and margin adjustments by Binance initiated liquidations, spurring enhanced selling pressure.
- Bitcoin was steady, while the NFT market continued its slide, with Bybit closing down its NFT platform.
Altseason done?, On April 1, the altcoin market crashed, with a number of tokens falling sharply. The largest decline was that of Act I The AI Prophecy (ACT), which lost almost 60% of its value in minutes.
The token’s decline started when its market maker left, triggering an instant price drop of 47%. This triggered a sell-off wave, and ACT kept falling throughout the day.
Binance’s Leverage Update
Meanwhile, other memecoins and altcoins also suffered severely. Tokens such as DEXE, TST, and LUMIA dropped hard on Binance. Additional altcoins such as LEVER, DF, MASK, and BROCCOLI74 also went deep into the red.
The rapid decline in several tokens concerned traders, with big cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin staying stable during the incident.
One of the primary explanations for the sell-off seems to be Binance’s announcement of leverage and margin levels. The announcement prompted liquidations, resulting in higher selling pressure on specific tokens.
A few traders were speculating that the crash was associated with trading firm Wintermute, but its co-founder disavowed any role, indicating that they had nothing to do with the collapse of the market. This doubts investors about the altseason.
The listing of ACT itself has also come under criticism. It has been argued by some traders that Binance’s listing of the token was an error from day one. Binance, it is said, seized control over the entire token supply and that even the ACT community deserted it.
This exposed it to high volatility in the form of instant price fluctuations, which was also seen when the market maker retreated. The plummeting of the token on April Fools’ Day has served to further berate it.
Bitcoin Remains Steady, but Altseason?
While the altcoins took a heavy hit, Bitcoin was steady, even gaining a modest 1.23% over the last 24 hours. Market statistics place Bitcoin’s market capitalization at $1.67 trillion, with its current price at $84,460.
As the altcoins fell, there is speculation that altseason will occur. Bitcoin’s performance suggests that the wider crypto market was not impacted in the same manner.
In other news from the markets, European regulators have sounded warnings regarding the rising risks in conventional finance. They have cited the U.S.’s welcoming nature towards crypto as one that may drive the adoption of crypto but also introduce new threats. The NFT market, in the meantime, is still struggling.
Bybit has confirmed closing down its NFT marketplace due to declining trading volumes. This comes after a similar action by X2Y2, with the whole NFT market experiencing a huge plunge, with its daily trading volume dropping 70% in the last year.
As the market responds to this, Altseason is being a big quewstion for investors, as investors wait to see if altcoins will bounce back or if this slump will persist.
Also Read: Bitcoin Dominance Climbs to 70%, Are Altcoins About to Steal the Show?
