Crypto Market Suffers One of the Worst Single-Day Drops in the Year as Bitcoin Nears $93K Level

A broad crypto market slide worsened at the start of U.S. trading hours as bitcoin (BTC) neared the $93,000 level, leading to a fallback across all major tokens.

Crypto markets slid further on Friday as bitcoin (BTC) approached the $93,000 level, leading to a broad-based decline across major tokens.

The price of ether fell as much as 16% over the past 24 hours, while Solana’s SOL and Cardano’s ADA dropped 13% and 14%, respectively, over the same time frame. XRP and BNB each fell around 15% over the past 24 hours.

Memecoin dogecoin (DOGE) fell over 27% during the same period.

The downturn comes after a rally that saw bitcoin (BTC) reach an all-time high of $97,000 on Monday. The price of ether also hit a record high of around $3,100 on Monday.

Some traders say a hawkish tone in this week’s FOMC meeting flipped market sentiment ahead of the new year.

“The Fed rate cut itself was already expected and priced in as markets hinged on the Fed's outlook for next year, which was less optimistic than expected and included only two rate cuts instead of the four that were previously expected,” Jeff Mei, COO at crypto exchange BTSE, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.

“Traders should be cautious until inflation is tamed and we see more concrete Trump policies in the coming year.”

Mei added that in the mid to long term, monetary and fiscal stimulus policies in the U.S. and other parts of the world will ultimately expand liquidity, boosting crypto markets.