According to Bloomberg, Ethereum and Solana led the cryptocurrency market downturn on Tuesday as investors grew cautious over escalating tensions in the Middle East. The sell-off, which prompted market participants to reduce exposure to riskier assets.
Ethereum—the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin—dropped by 5.98% before partially recovering. Meanwhile, Solana also saw a steep decline, falling as much as 5.51%. On Monday, both tokens had been on a sharp upward trend.
Bitcoin, which accounts for over 60% of the total crypto market capitalization, fell roughly 4.05% to $104,384. The asset has declined in six of the past seven trading days, Bloomberg added.
Vincent Liu, Investment Director at Kronos Research, noted the current altcoin slump reflects a mix of macroeconomic uncertainty and market dynamics.
Additionally, data from Coinglass shows that more than $230 million in long crypto positions were liquidated over the past 12 hours.