Cryptocurrencies were sold hard this weekend in a painful crash on most fronts.
Bitcoin dropped 14% on the weekend, hitting $42K early Saturday in a $9000 drop inside of an hour. It's now trading at $48,338. It touched the lowest since October 4.
The low coincided with the support from the September bottom, leading to technical buying into the dip. The bottom lasted mere minutes before a quick rebound above $46,000.
One person who bought the dip was El Salvador President Nayib Bukele who tweeted that the country bought another 150 coins at an average of $48,670.
El Salvador just bought the dip! 🇸🇻
— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) December 4, 2021
150 coins at an average USD price of ~$48,670 🥳#Bitcoin🎄
The weekend drop touch virtually all major cryptocurrencies but some were hit harder than others. Ether is trading at $4132, which is down from $4600 at Thursday's high but above the November lows near $3900.
Elsewhere there have been deeper falls with cardano down to $1.35 from a high of $1.75 last week. Solana is at $189 compared to the high last week of $242.
The drop underscores the risks to crypto around the broad risk trade. Early in the pandemic, bitcoin crumbled to $4000 before regaining its form and climbing to a record $68,900 in November.
The entire crypto market continues to benefit from more-widespread adoption and institutional interest. Most-recently, the approval of a number of ETFs has added new layers of buying along with ease of access. The bad news is that recent drops take much of the recent retail entrants out of the money. The BITO ETF debuted near $31 and closed Friday at $33.89. Baring a miracle turnaround, it will open much lower to start the new week.
As traders in ETFs sell when stock markets reopen, it could add to downward pressure on crypto on Monday.
