Why is the cryptocurrency market down today?

The market overall is down as investors have cooled off from buying crypto in recent days, which is seeing prices fall.

In the past 24 hours, Ethereum is down more than 6%, Solana has fallen 9.72% and BNB has dropped by 3.77%.

Tether USDT isn't struggling as much and is 0.06% up while USDC is also marginally up, on 0.01%.

The crypto market has started to bounce back after crashing last year for a number of reasons, one of them being Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A lack of regulation shook investor confidence in digital currencies and tokens and the collapse of crypto exchange FTX also played a contributing role.

Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency, has risen from $42,280 on January 1 to $64,891 today.

Meanwhile, Ethereum has increased from $2,282 at the start of the year to $3,337 today, despite it falling from $4,006 on March 12.

Crypto volatility

Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, meaning their values often make large swings with no notice, as the latest plunge shows.

Investing in cryptocurrency is a very risky business.

You can be left with less money than you put in, and could even lose it all - even if you spend on what appears to be a safe bet.

You might not be able to access your investment if platforms go down and you could be left unable to convert crypto back into cash.

There have also been warnings around scams related to cryptocurrencies, with people losing vast sums of money.

You should never invest in something you don’t understand and you should never put in money that you can't afford to lose entirely.

Will cryptocurrencies' prices rise?

It's impossible to predict exactly what will happen with cryptocurrencies across the rest of 2024.

But Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell, previously told The Sun plans by the UK government to regulate the market this year could see their value rise domestically.

He commented: "Increased regulation might be a positive for crypto, potentially opening up fresh pools of capital and fostering greater confidence amongst consumers."

But, he warned of the extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies, which can fluctuate in value due to "something as extraneous as a tweet from Elon Musk".

He said: "In the long run the widespread adoption of crypto as either an asset or a currency is still highly speculative, and as a result prices can be expected to remain incredibly volatile and heavily influenced by sentiment."

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, echoed Laith, adding: "Cryptos are notoriously volatile.

"While investors can make impressive gains, they can also be left nursing painful losses."

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