After a weekend rally that saw the total crypto market cap increase by more than 7% in less than twelve hours, the tables abruptly turned, sending it plummeting nearly 6.5% in just twenty minutes, followed by a further 3.5% loss over the next two hours.

Breaking out of this current bear market is starting to feel like a Sisyphean task. No sooner does the market gain some forward progress, than something happens to knock it back again.

This weekend is a perfect example. On Saturday, the total crypto market cap rose by nearly $9.5 billion in less than twelve hours – a gain of more than 7%. Nearly all of the Top 100 cryptocurrencies were in the green. Bitcoin was up, Ether and EOS were really up, it was glorious – like the first breath of spring air after being shut in all winter.

Then, in the span of just twenty minutes, the crypto market abruptly shed $9.1 billion and over the next two hours, a further $4.65 billion, for a total loss of $13.75 billion. Many cryptocurrencies saw their past 24-hour gains erased plus some.

Bitcoin Topples into Sub-$3800 Territory

With Bitcoin flirting with $4000 throughout the week, everyone was watching the market to see how the popular cryptocurrency would fare over the weekend. After spending all of Friday and the first part of Saturday firmly in the $3950 – $4000 range, Bitcoin suddenly shot up nearly 4% in just over two hours – from $3971.57 to $4126.01 on CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin continued to climb, reaching a peak of $4210.64 – its highest price since December 2018 – before a slight decline to $4141.18 early Sunday morning. Before the crypto community could even breathe a collective sigh of relief, however, Bitcoin took a header, falling more than 5.5% in just twenty minutes. Prices continued to fall for the next two hours to a low of $3793.71.

At press time, Bitcoin is trading at around $3830.

Top 10 Cryptocurrencies (24-Hour Losses)

Although most of the crypto market was hit with losses overnight, some were hit harder than others. At the time of this writing, here are the cryptocurrencies that saw the highest 24-hour losses:

AVINOC (AVINOC): -43.79% Zeepin (ZPT): -42.08% Zetacoin (ZET): -41.36% GoNetwork (GOT): -34.63% Transcodium (TNS): -31.03% Spendcoin (SPND): -30.24% AiLink Token (ALI): -28.31% HyperQuant (HQT): -28.17% Soma (SCT): -28.02% EvenCoin (EVN): -27.57%

Top 10 Cryptocurrencies (24-Hour Gains)

Of course, there were gains to be found despite the sudden market downturn. At the time of this writing, here are the cryptocurrencies that posted the highest gains over the past 24 hours:

Influence Chain (INC): +108.75% Ether-1 (ETHO): +50.25% Consentium (CSM): +29.27% Globaltalent (GBT): +27.09% Dentacoin (DCN): +24.85% S4FE (S4F): +24.45% FOIN (FOIN): +18.70% APIS (APIS): +17.00% BitBall (BTB): +16.28% FairGame (FAIR): +14.57%

What do you think caused the sudden downturn in the crypto market? What will the coming week bring? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of AdobeStock, DepositPhotos, CoinMarketCap