Major Altcoins XRP, APT, and ADA Drop Another 15%, Likely on Pre-CPI Position Adjustments.

Altcoins Plummet as Bitcoin Shows Resilience, Holding at $95,000 Amid Market Turmoil

The cryptocurrency market extended its sell-off on Tuesday, with altcoins experiencing sharp declines while bitcoin (BTC) remained relatively stable, slipping just 3% to $95,000.

Tokens like XRP, Polkadot (DOT), Litecoin (LTC), Aptos (APT), and Cardano (ADA) were among the hardest hit, dropping between 15% and 18% over the past 24 hours. The CoinDesk 20 index, which tracks major cryptocurrencies by market cap, excluding memecoins and exchange tokens, fell nearly 10%. Most assets in the index posted double-digit losses, although Ethereum’s ether (ETH) and Solana’s SOL declined by slightly smaller margins of 8% and 9%, respectively.

Bitcoin maintained its footing better than its peers, holding above $95,000 and logging a modest 3% decline in the past day.

The market turmoil has already triggered significant liquidations, with Monday’s drop wiping out over $1.5 billion in bullish positions. Tuesday saw an additional $450 million in liquidations, primarily impacting long positions, according to CoinGlass. Open interest in bitcoin futures remains high at nearly $58 billion, although it has dipped by 6.8% since the weekend.

This correction comes after a meteoric rally in November, driven by Donald Trump’s electoral win. During the rally, many altcoins surged in value, and bitcoin broke the $100,000 threshold for the first time.

Bitcoin’s market dominance climbed to 57.9% on Tuesday, its highest level in weeks, indicating a flight to stability as investors moved away from riskier altcoins.

Analysts suggest that the sell-off may be linked to concerns over inflation data expected on Wednesday. “Investors are bracing for a possible uptick in inflation,” said Ruslan Lienkha, Chief of Markets at YouHodler, in a statement to CoinDesk. “If the Consumer Price Index (CPI) exceeds forecasts, it could intensify selling pressure across both crypto and traditional markets.”

Despite the turmoil in crypto, traditional financial markets have shown relative stability. U.S. stock indices remained flat on Tuesday after minor losses on Monday, highlighting the divergence between crypto and equities during this period of volatility.