Cryptocurrency Prices on August 21: Bitcoin drops below $60,000; Ethereum, Litecoin fall up to 4%

As of 12:15 pm IST, Bitcoin was down 2.3%, trading at $59,656, while Ethereum fell 2.8% to $2,602. The global cryptocurrency market cap also dropped by 1.9%, settling at around $2.11 trillion over the last 24 hours.

Later on Wednesday, preliminary revisions to U.S. labor data are expected, with a significant downward adjustment anticipated, potentially supporting the case for cutting interest rates. Federal Reserve minutes are also expected to reinforce a dovish stance.

“Bitcoin had another unsuccessful attempt at breaching the $60,700 critical resistance and is now consolidating below $60,000. The market remains cautious ahead of the U.S. jobless claims data release tomorrow. There’s a strong chance that Bitcoin could rally toward $61,000 if the data indicates a drop in claims,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex, commented, “Bitcoin is trading at $59,000 due to a lack of momentum for significant upward movements, largely influenced by stronger confidence in the global economy, ongoing geopolitical tensions, and a downturn in spot Bitcoin ETFs. BTC has yet to gather enough strength for a sharp move. The support level now lies at $58,100, with resistance at $60,600.”Other popular cryptocurrencies like BNB (-1.7%), Solana (-2.5%), XRP (-2.2%), Dogecoin (-0.7%), Chainlink (-0.7%), and Litecoin (-4.5%) also saw declines.The volume of all stablecoins is currently $57.09 billion, making up 93.18% of the total crypto market’s 24-hour volume, according to CoinMarketCap.Over the past 24 hours, the market cap of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, dropped to $1.176 trillion, with Bitcoin’s dominance standing at 55.81%, per CoinMarketCap. BTC’s 24-hour trading volume decreased by 7.2% to $26.9 billion.

“Bitcoin is currently trading at $59,600. Breaking the $60,000 level could push BTC toward $61,000; however, if it fails, it might drop lower towards the $54,000 range in the short term,” said Sathvik Vishwanath, Co-Founder & CEO of Unocoin.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed by experts are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Economic Times.)