Crypto markets retreat as risk-off mood spreads, Bitcoin slips below $104K

Crypto markets are down today. Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and various altcoins are in the red and erasing some of the gains made a day earlier.

Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped to $103,565, down from this week’s high of $107,060. Ethereum (ETH) price retreated to $3,495, while Ripple (XRP) fell to $2.4327. Some of the top laggards were Starknet, Dash, Render, and Zcash.

One main reason the crypto market is down today is that investors remain fearful following last month’s liquidations. The closely watched Crypto Fear and Greed Index has remained in the fear zone at 31.

This fear is evident in the futures market, where open interest fell by 1.16% over the last 24 hours to $144 billion. It has dropped sharply from last month’s high of over $250 billion.

Falling futures open interest is a sign that investors have remained on the sidelines and are not taking substantial risks as they did before.

Risk-off sentiment in the market 

The crypto market is down today amid risk-off sentiment. A good example of this is the performance in the stock market, where the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index dropped by 200 points and the S&P 500 eased by 20 points.

Most of the losses in the stock market were driven by Nvidia, the world’s biggest company, whose stock dropped by almost 4% after SoftBank sold its stake. Other AI stocks like CoreWeave fell by 14%, while a gauge of the so-called magnificent seven companies dropped by over 1%.

It is common for the stock and crypto markets to drop in sync, since the two are widely considered as risky assets.

Bitcoin price contributes to the crypto sell-off 

Technicals have also contributed to the ongoing crypto market sell-off. Bitcoin has formed several bearish patterns on the daily and weekly charts, pointing to more downside.

It has formed a double-top pattern at $124,433 and a neckline at $107,060, its lowest level in August. The coin has also formed a death cross pattern, which happens when the 50-day Weighted Moving Average moves below the 200-day average while pointing downwards.

Therefore, there is a likelihood that the coin will continue to fall, potentially below $100,000, which will drag the broader crypto market down.

This expert says…

The crypto market has entered a stabilization phase marked by cautious sentiment rather than renewed optimism, according to Wintermute’s Jasper De Maere.

In his November 10 report, De Maere described the current environment as a potential “turning phase,” noting that market structure has improved and macro conditions are supportive.

However, he cautioned that a broad altcoin rally is unlikely unless Bitcoin leads the way. Despite a better macro backdrop, crypto has underperformed other asset classes in recent weeks.

While Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins were top performers a month ago, they became weak last week. Mid-cap tokens outpaced large caps, rising 14.8%, while DePIN projects led sector gains and layer-1 networks, gaming, and memecoins lagged.