Altcoins crashing has sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market as major tokens like Jasmy, Solana, Shiba Inu, and Pepe experience significant downturns. The altcoin market downturn has resulted in billions of dollars in investor losses, with Bitcoin retreating below $80,000 and the total cryptocurrency market cap plunging by 5.40% to $2.64 trillion. Crypto investors have lost almost $1 trillion in the past few months as the meme coin collapse continues to gain momentum.
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Why Are Altcoins Crashing? Jasmy, Solana, Shiba Inu & Pepe Take a Hit
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Fear and Greed Index Plummets to Extreme Fear
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The altcoins crashing phenomenon stems primarily from investor sentiment turning deeply negative. The CNN Money fear and greed index has plunged to the extreme fear zone of 18, indicating widespread market pessimism right now. This dramatic shift has been observed across multiple subindices, with market momentum, stock price strength, put and call options, and safe haven demand all moving to extreme fear territory.
Additionally, the CBOE S&P 500 index, commonly known as VIX, has remained above $20 for seven consecutive days, signaling heightened market volatility. This atmosphere of fear has triggered panic selling while simultaneously reducing demand as cautious investors remain on the sidelines, and many are just waiting for some kind of stability before jumping back in.
Dramatic Price Declines Across the Board
The price declines have been particularly severe across multiple altcoins in recent days, and the numbers are pretty shocking to be honest. Jasmy’s price has dropped all the way down to $0.0170, which is actually its lowest level since November 5, marking a staggering 72% decline from its November 2024 peak. Many early investors who bought at higher prices are now facing some really tough decisions about whether to sell at a loss or just hold and hope for a recovery.
Solana, which was once trading at nearly $300 not too long ago, has been knocked down to just $127, leaving many projects built on its blockchain struggling as well. And then there’s Shiba Inu’s price which was tumbled to around $0.00001337, dropping significantly from its previous $0.00003326 level, much to the dismay of its loyal community who had such high hopes. Meanwhile, Pepe coin’s value was reduced to about $0.0000075 as the meme coin collapse intensified even further, basically wiping out gains that some traders had been counting on for their portfolios.
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Bitcoin’s Double-Top Pattern Spells Trouble
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Bitcoin’s technical indicators are definitely presenting a troubling picture that’s affecting pretty much the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem right now. A double-top pattern has formed at around $108,200, with Bitcoin crashing below the critical neckline at $89,100 just this week. The cryptocurrency has also fallen below its 200-day moving average, which is a technically significant development that has many traders feeling quite nervous and uncertain at the moment.
Some analysts suggest Bitcoin could potentially drop all the way to $73,614, which would actually match its March 2024 high. And interestingly enough, such a drop might actually signal a bullish “break and retest” pattern, potentially setting up some kind of reversal in the future. However, at the time of writing, most altcoins continue to suffer whenever Bitcoin performs poorly, and this relationship between Bitcoin and altcoins doesn’t really seem to be changing anytime soon, which is causing a lot of frustration for many altcoin holders.
Trump’s Tariffs and Economic Uncertainty
Donald Trump’s tariff plans have definitely made the altcoin downturn much worse. The president’s upcoming March tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, and also the 25% steel and aluminum tariffs, caught many traders off guard and created additional anxiety.
These policies are raising some serious stagflation concerns – which is basically a really bad mix of slow growth and high inflation that creates a sort of no-win situation for the Federal Reserve. And with the Fed now potentially cutting rates to try and prevent a recession, crypto markets have become even more unstable right now.
Major stock ETFs such as IVV, SPY, and VOO have also fallen alongside crypto, as investors are backing away from riskier assets for the time being. The market is facing multiple challenges all at once – fear is pretty high, technical indicators aren’t looking good, and economic worries are definitely mounting.
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This perfect storm is essentially why altcoins are crashing so hard at the moment, with Jasmy, Solana, Shiba Inu, and Pepe suffering the most in this meme coin collapse. While some analysts see a possible bounce if Bitcoin hits certain key support levels, most investors are just bracing for continued volatility as these market conditions continue to play out in the coming weeks.