The cryptocurrency market’s total capitalization crashed by a whopping 5.2% in the past 24 hours. It is currently down to about $2.75 trillion.

Total liquidations across the derivatives market also spiked above $500 million for the period. Most of them came from BTC traders, but the situation isn’t any better in the altcoins segment.

Bitcoin Price Tumbles to $60K, Bulls Step In

Bitcoin’s price plummeted to a local low at $60,170 earlier today. The last time it traded at this level was back on September 18th.

Fortunately, the bulls were quick to react. They staged a recovery to the current price of around $61,500.

Unfortunately, a lot of the positive momentum that was built in the last week of September is now under scrutiny. The major shift in direction seems to be stemming from the escalating tensions in the Middle East. Responding to previous strikes, Iran launched a missile barrage consisting of more than 200 ballistic rockets against Israel. Most of them were neutralized, but the latter has stated that it will respond.

Market participants are worried that an all-out war could impact prices and are apparently hedging themselves by dissolving out of risk-on assets such as Bitcoin. The prices of gold, on the other hand, are going up.

Investors are literally selling #Bitcoin to buy #gold as geopolitical tensions spike. pic.twitter.com/ib7c38K75K

— jeroen blokland (@jsblokland) October 1, 2024

Altcoins in Deep Red

The downfall is far from limited to Bitcoin. In fact, the primary cryptocurrency dropped by some 4% on the day, while altcoins are charting much more considerable declines.

For example, large-cap coins such as ETH, SOL, XRP, BCH, TON, ADA, DOT, and more, are all down between 6% and 10%.

The only one that’s currently an exception from the rule is SUI, which is trading flat on the day.

The worst performer today is Arweave (AR), which is down 15.7%, followed by Starknet (-14.9%), and Notcoin (-14.4%).

It’s interesting to see if the ongoing geopolitical tensions will continue and the way they will impact the crypto markets.