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This Week’s Summary

• The cryptocurrency market looks to end the week at a total market capitalization of $1,164 trillion.
• Bitcoin fell down by over 9% after a disappointing week.
• Ethereum decreased by almost 12% over the past seven days.
• XRP lost more than 12% in value this week.
• Almost all altcoins have been trading in the red, with virtually no exception.
• The DeFi sector decreased the total value of protocols (TVL) to around $49 billion.

Cryptocurrency Trends for the Week of April 17-23, 2023: Market Analysis and Performance

The cryptocurrency market has been on a considerable downtrend following several weeks of visible improvement. Most of its assets have been bleeding heavily at first sight. However, looking closely, we can observe that Bitcoin and the ensuing digital assets have only lost last week’s gains.

Therefore, the verdict is that of a natural contraction after a month-long surge. Even the market capitalization reversed to the previous value after losing the $100 billion it had earned a week ago.

Bitcoin moved back to a more familiar value, judging by its 2023 form, recently seen trading at around $27,500. The king of cryptocurrencies suffered a swift correction this week of nearly 10%. In fact, it only recovered slightly during the last hours of the weekend. It has been trading far from the $32,000 level, which it targeted the previous week. However, it is unlikely to follow in this direction for too long.

Ethereum was trading above $2,000 for the first time in many months, only seven days ago. Unfortunately, the second crypto in command followed the market’s overall trend and diminished considerably this week. Following a nearly 12% value drop, ETH has recently been seen trading at around $1,850.

Altcoins & DeFi

Most altcoins have been trading deeply in the red, with some showcasing double-digit value drops. For example, BNB moved down by 6%, XRP by 12%, and Cardano by 14%. Meanwhile, Dogecoin decreased by almost 12% and Polygon by 14%, just like Polkadot and Litecoin. Also, Shiba Inu moved down by 11%, similar to Solana and Avalanche.

The Metaverse sector has been in the same boat as the rest of the crypto market. For instance, Theta Network moved down by 11% and Axie Infinity by almost 15%. Meanwhile, Decentraland decreased by 13%, ApeCoin by 12%, IPC by 9%, and The Sandbox by 14%.

The DeFi sector lost over $4 billion from the total value in locked protocols (TVL), now at $49.74 billion.

What’s in the News?

• Despite Bitcoin’s meteoric rise, Tesla has yet to sell any BTC from its extensive reserves in the first quarter of 2023.
• The Texas House of Representatives passed a bill requiring crypto exchanges to display proof of reserves.
• Gemini, the US-based crypto exchange, is expanding in Asia by opening a new office in India.

Next Week’s Crypto Market Forecast

The cryptocurrency market has been seeing red for the first time in weeks. However, this doesn’t mean the bears are back in control. On the contrary, the sector has been witnessing a standard regression period while remaining solid for future development. Most likely, the downtrend will reverse in the coming weeks.

About the Author

Born and raised in Romania, and currently living in Spain, the author discovered a knack for writing from a tender age, and even won some minor awards for fiction that didn't pay much.

Iulian became a content writer in 2011, and he is still doing it to some degree of success today. He is currently specialized in cryptocurrencies, technology, online marketing, and social media. In his free time, Iulian likes reading, traveling, and watching sports. His dream is to see Bitcoin reach $100,000 just so he can tell his friends “I told you so!”

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