There has been a significant decline in cryptocurrency prices in the past few hours, with bitcoin (BTC) down by approximately 3% over the last 24 hours. Major altcoins like XRP, BNB, and SOL have also seen a decrease between 4% and 5% during the same period.
The overall cryptocurrency market, as represented by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), has lost about 3.3% of its value. This sudden drop has resulted in a 1.7% decrease in BTC’s performance for the week, while the CD20 has dropped nearly 5%.
In the past 24 hours, over $300 million worth of long positions were liquidated on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, while $38.8 million worth of shorts were also liquidated on these platforms, according to CoinGlass data.
This decline seems to be part of a broader risk reduction strategy among traders, as they anticipate the impact of President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs coming into effect on April 2. The move intensified after the core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data was higher than expected on Friday.
Recent consumer confidence data has dipped more than anticipated, with the future expectations index hitting a 12-year low, well below levels associated with an approaching recession.
These factors have led investors to reduce their exposure to risk assets and seek safety. The latest stablecoin report from CoinDesk Data shows that gold-backed cryptocurrencies have benefited from this risk-off movement, with their market capitalization exceeding $1.4 billion in March.
Interestingly, gold-backed cryptocurrencies are defying the bearish trend in the market. While the CD20 has dropped by over 3% in the last 24 hours, tokens like PAXG and XAUT have increased by 0.7% to over $3,100. These tokens have seen a rise of more than 18% year-to-date, while BTC is down by 12.5% and the CD20 index by 28% so far this year.
