Ramazan Eles 
The weekend delivered another round of turbulence for the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin (BTC) taking a tumble and altcoins experiencing even steeper losses.
Bitcoin Slumps to Multi-Week Low
Just two days ago, Bitcoin appeared poised for a breakout, flirting with the $71,000 mark. However, the tide turned dramatically on Friday evening. Hawkish comments from US central bank officials doused investor optimism, sending the price plummeting $5,000 to $65,000 within minutes.
This decline mirrored a broader market slump, with even gold experiencing a 4% price drop. Bitcoin initially recovered some ground on Saturday morning, reaching $67,000, but escalating tensions between Iran and Israel triggered another sell-off.
The resulting plunge brought Bitcoin down to a multi-week low of $61,000 (on Bitstamp), wiping out over $700 million in liquidations. While the price has rebounded slightly to hover above $64,000, it remains vulnerable as the only major market open for trading today. Bitcoin’s market capitalization has shed $130 billion since Friday, settling at $1.270 trillion. Interestingly, Bitcoin’s dominance over altcoins has grown by about 2% during this period.
Altcoins Face Brutal Beatdown
As expected, the broader altcoin market mirrored Bitcoin’s downturn, but with even greater ferocity. While many altcoins have witnessed a partial recovery, the past two days have been brutal for investors. The chart reveals a significant number of altcoins experiencing double-digit price declines, with prominent names like SOL, XRP, DOGE, TON, ADA, AVAX, SHIB, DOT, and ETH still trading deep in the red.
The total crypto market capitalization plummeted from nearly $2.8 trillion on Friday morning to a low of $2.330 trillion by Saturday evening. Despite a $100 billion rebound since then, the market remains down 5% overall.