Bitcoin only intensified its recent price drops by slumping to just under $20,000 for the first time in about six weeks.

The alternative coins suffer, too, leading to almost $400 million in liquidations from over-leveraged traders.

• CryptoPotato reported the relatively stable price movements from bitcoin in the past week or so. After falling by $4,000 in the previous week, BTC spent most of this one around the $21,000 mark. It challenged $22,000 a few days ago but to no avail.
• It had calmed at $21,500 yesterday, but that’s when Fed Chair Jerome Powell addressed the nation once again, essentially repeating the central bank’s previous stance on how to fight inflation.
• The crypto markets, however, reacted with immediate price drops. Bitcoin, for one, dumped by $1,000 in hours and only kept plunging later on. As such, it dipped below $20,000 minutes ago for the first time since mid-July.
• The alternative coins are in no better shape. Some, such as ETH, SHIB, and AVAX are down by double-digits. Ethereum has dropped below $1,500 after riding high above $1,700 two days ago.
• With more violent retracements from most alts, the overall crypto market cap has dumped way below the coveted $1 trillion mark.
• This enhanced volatility has harmed over-leveraged traders. Data from CoinGlass shows that the total value of liquidations in the past 24 hours is up to almost $400 million.
• More than 125,000 traders have been wrecked so far, with the single-largest liquidated position taking place on OKX with the BTC/USDT trading pair – worth $3.5 million.