The cryptocurrency market closed out March 2018 with one of the most punishing weeks of the year, as altcoins suffered devastating losses across the board. With Bitcoin itself dropping below $7,000 before staging a modest recovery, the broader altcoin market experienced even steeper declines that left traders and investors searching for signs of a bottom.
TL;DR
- Ethereum lost nearly 25% of its value during the week, trading at $396 by March 31
- Bitcoin Cash suffered the steepest decline among top-five coins, plunging nearly 31%
- Ripple (XRP) dropped below $0.52, shedding over 20% in seven days
- Litecoin fell to $116, a 28% weekly decline
- The total cryptocurrency market lost over 20% of its value as the crypto winter deepened
A Week of Relentless Selling Pressure
The final week of March 2018 was marked by unrelenting selling pressure across virtually every major cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, the market bellwether, touched a low of approximately $6,590 during the week before bulls managed to push the price back above the psychologically important $7,000 level. By the close of trading on March 31, BTC was changing hands at around $6,973, according to CoinMarketCap data.
However, the damage to altcoins was significantly more severe. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ended the week at $396.46 — a decline of roughly 25% over the previous seven days. ETH, which had traded above $1,300 at its January peak, was now worth less than a third of its all-time high.
Ripple’s XRP fared little better, slipping to $0.5124 with a weekly loss exceeding 20%. The token, which had briefly surpassed Ethereum in market capitalization during the late 2017 rally, was now firmly entrenched in a downtrend that showed no signs of abating.
Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin Lead the Declines
Among the top-ten cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin were the hardest hit. BCH plunged nearly 31% during the week, settling at $685.25. The fork of Bitcoin, which had traded above $4,000 in December 2017, was now struggling to maintain support levels that would have seemed impossibly low just months earlier.
Litecoin followed a similar trajectory, dropping approximately 28% to end the week at $116.61. The silver to Bitcoin’s gold, as LTC is sometimes called, had lost more than 75% of its value from its December 2017 peak near $370.
Trading Patterns Shift as Bear Market Grips
The market dynamics during this period revealed several noteworthy trends. The Japanese yen had become the dominant fiat currency for Bitcoin trading, accounting for approximately 54% of global BTC volume. The US dollar followed at 23%, with Tether (USDT) capturing 12.5% of trading activity.
Tether, in particular, saw surging demand as traders sought safe harbor in the stablecoin during the downturn. USDT occupied the second-highest trading volume position across all cryptocurrencies, surpassing even Ethereum — a clear signal that market participants were retreating to the sidelines rather than rotating into alternative digital assets.
On derivatives platforms, short positions on BitMEX were significantly outpacing longs, indicating that professional traders were positioning for further downside. Forum discussions were dominated by talk of a potential double bottom, with some analysts pointing to the $5,900 level as a critical support zone that, if breached, could trigger another wave of forced liquidations.
A First Quarter to Forget
The final week of March capped off a dismal first quarter for the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin ended Q1 2018 at approximately $6,924, a dramatic fall from the euphoric heights of late 2017 when the dominant cryptocurrency had briefly touched $20,000. The broader market had shed hundreds of billions in total capitalization since the January peak.
For altcoin investors, the picture was even bleaker. Many tokens that had debuted during the ICO boom of 2017 had lost 80-90% of their peak values, with little fundamental catalyst on the horizon to spark a recovery. The term crypto winter was becoming part of the everyday lexicon in cryptocurrency communities, as the bear market that began in January showed no signs of thawing as the calendar turned to April.
Why This Matters
The March 31 market snapshot captures the cryptocurrency ecosystem at a critical inflection point. The dramatic altcoin losses of early 2018 served as a harsh lesson in the volatility and speculative nature of the nascent digital asset class. Many of the projects that survived this crucible would go on to form the foundation of the next bull market, while countless others faded into obscurity. Understanding these cycles of boom and bust remains essential for anyone navigating the cryptocurrency markets.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always conduct your own research before making any investment decisions.