Altcoins Turn Red as Bitcoin Snaps 4-Day Rally

Bitcoin's four-day surge from the $21,000 support zones to the $23,500 resistance zones was nice while it lasted. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap was recently trading just above the $23,200 zone, down over 2% over the past 24 hours and far removed from its temporary perch nearly $1,000 higher earlier on Tuesday. Investors are hunkered down waiting for the Wednesday evening release of July's Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the United States.

Ethereum, the second-largest crypto by market capitalization behind bitcoin, was recently changing hands for about $1,700, down almost 4% from the previous day and well off a euphoric, two-month high of about $1,800 early on Monday. Other major cryptos were well-red on Tuesday with FIL, FANTOM, and KSM recently tumbling more than 11%, 8%, and 9% respectively.

While Ethereum's price corrected to $1,670, BTC's price fell as low as $22,800. However, from a technical analysis perspective, the pullback on August 9 is simply a lower support test following the most recent support-resistance flip of the previous week, and large-cap assets like ETH and BTC continue to trade within their multi-week ranges. The justification for traders seeking refuge in stablecoins is logical.

Market anxiety

The market has been in jitters this week as a result of several industry titans reporting poor profits, including chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA) and Micron Technology (MU). A surprisingly high CPI might cause markets to tumble even further, indicating that the U.S. economy will continue to experience instability.

Other positive cryptocurrency news included analytics platform Merkle Science and Maker DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that provides funding and operational support to "creators," closing $19 million and $20 million capital rounds, respectively. Messari, a crypto intelligence firm, announced plans for a $25 million funding round at a $300 million valuation. Additionally, the Korean blockchain protocol Klaytn disclosed that it would invest $20 million over years in two of the nation's universities to boost blockchain research and development.