The cryptocurrency market started the last week of the year on a downward note, sparking interest as many enthusiasts anticipated a potential ‘Santa Claus rally.’ Expectations were also fueled by the impending arrival of a spot Bitcoin ETF, which could signal a bullish trend for the market.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, saw a 1.64% decrease in the last 24 hours, trading at $43,147, with its trading volume surging by 48.88% to $19.71 billion. Ethereum, the leading smart contract platform, also felt the impact, dropping by 1.26% to $2,281, while its trading volume rose by 5.84% to $8.58 billion.
Trendy altcoin Solana experienced a 1.86% decline to $112.10 despite recently surpassing the $110 mark, and its trading volume increased by 3.27% to $5.35 billion. XRP and BNB also witnessed decreases, trading at $0.6171 and $265.82 respectively after 24 hours.
The memecoin segment wasn’t spared from the downtrend, with Dogecoin dropping by 1.67% to $0.09259, though its trading volume rose by 56% to $548.55 million. Shiba Inu also fell by 2% to $0.00001076, with a 17.4% increase in trading volume to $208.6 million.
The overall decline in Bitcoin and major altcoins pulled down the total market capitalization by 1.19% to $1.66 trillion, while the total trading volume spiked by 24.76% to $62.51 billion. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index indicated ‘greed’ at a level of 72.
Despite the general market downturn, Quant’s QNT token stood out with an over 17% increase in the last 24 hours, reaching $141.84 and trading at $132.64 at the time of writing. QNT’s trading volume skyrocketed by 450% to $101.59 million, with a 23.84% increase over the last week and a 32.02% rise over the past month.