TL;DR: It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. Legacy markets in the United States were given a time out after prices slid in a hurry this morning. Saudi Arabia is dumping cheap oil to crush Russian competition. Coronavirus worries are spreading through world supply chains. And, yet, no one can really explain why cryptocurrencies across the board are down double digits in 24 hours.

Cryptos Hemmorage and Legacy Markets Halt Trading

“The S&P 500 index has declined by 7%,” the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) informed of legacy markets, “triggering a Level 1 Market Wide Circuit Breaker trading halt. US equity markets will resume after 15 minutes.” Analysts are keen to cite coronavirus as a key influence on trading psychology, while doom pornographers have been warning for years traditional equities are overbought due to ongoing loose monetary policy and are spoiling for a painful correction.

What is less than clear is why cryptocurrency prices are diving. Over the last 24 hours, the top 10 cryptos by market capitalization are all down double-digits. One theory reveals a typical symptom, namely whales either capitulating or taking profits. WhaleTrades on Twitter noted movements of “$21,992,685 worth of #Bitcoin sold at $7,845.53,” and not too long after, another “$6,087,919 worth of #Bitcoin sold at $7,779.61,” with a more recent blast of “$4,000,000 worth of #Bitcoin bought at $7,786.03,” all attributed to being facilitated through BitMEX.

But none of those markers answer why no one is buying at the moment. What might not be helping investor confidence is the world’s most powerful central bank, the United States Federal Reserve, having recently taken actions normally reserved for slow-down worries — a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. It again cut interest rates, and many mainstream analysts referred to the move as an “emergency” measure, predicting negative interest rates or at least close to zero coming soon.

However, such an action, separate from its panic implications, would seem in theory to act as a buoy for crypto prices, helping them rise. More money sloshing around can be thrown at risky assets such as digital currencies. Clearly, that’s not happening, at least not at the moment. Other crypto wags desperate for an explanation have seized upon Saudi Arabia flooding the oil market over the weekend to thwart Russia, bringing per-barrel prices to their lowest in years. That too could have broad economic impact in a variety of ways. At the very least, it’s a good time to remember influencers who assured $10,000 was right around the corner, and, of course, to review a favorite CoinSpice maxim: no one understands crypto.

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DYOR: CoinSpice is your home for just spicy crypto things. We’re not affiliated with any cryptocurrency project or token. Each published piece is intended for information purposes only, not investment advice and not in the hope of impacting speculative markets. There are plenty of trading sites and coin-specific advocacy journals out there, we’re neither. CoinSpice strives for rigorous accuracy in our reporting. Information presented here is contingent usually on a host of factors, and the ecosystem moves fast — prices change, projects change, and at warp speed. Do your own research.

DISCLOSURE: The author holds cryptocurrency as part of his financial portfolio, including BCH.