Last weekend featured exceptional volatility and ended with a massive downturn as the one-day cryptocurrency market valuation revealed a $100 billion crash by the morning of Monday, May 19.

Late on Sunday, the digital assets market capitalization climbed to a high of $3.32 trillion, only to crash by more than $110 billion to $3.2 trillion at press time. The collapse aligns with the moves observed in the last week, especially in the previous three days, per the data retrieved from TradingView.

At the start of Saturday, May 17, the total crypto market cap stood at $3.25 trillion, only to drop by $40 billion to $3.21 trillion within hours. 

After a day of sideways trading, digital assets soared more than $100 billion, then created a ravine as they fully corrected before rallying once again on Sunday ahead of the latest plunge.

Why the crypto market erased $100 billion in a day

At press time on May 19, there appeared to be two main reasons for the volatility and downturn. The first involved the world’s premier cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), as it attempted and failed to find a footing above $105,000 after its highest weekly close in history.

The seven-day chart for BTC shows two strong upswings over the weekend, with one crossing above $105,000 and the other moving even higher above $106,000.

Considering Bitcoin’s influence on other digital assets, it is safe to assume that the two rallies generated significant optimism for altcoins and that the correction initiated a wider sell-off. 

However, the fact that BTC itself corrected 2.97% in the last 24 hours to its press time price of $103,277 indicates there is more to the downturn than the market simply following the leader.

Profit-taking limits rallies amid resurgent economic uncertainty

Moody’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating caused investor anxiety and arguably spoiled the growing bullishness that followed the 90-day trade truce with China. 

The situation was exacerbated by the growing 30-year treasury yield, especially since President Trump already demonstrated his sensitivity to the metric during the Liberation Day announcement turmoil.

Overall, the latest cryptocurrency market wipe likely showcases that any potential upsides are limited in the second half of May by investors seeking to lock in profits before macroeconomic uncertainty either leads to another crash or dissipates.

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