PEPE Explodes 16%, BTC Recovers Most SEC-Induced Losses: Market Watch

Despite the second high-tier lawsuit launched by the SEC against a crypto company yesterday, bitcoin actually defied expectations and skyrocketed by $2,000 in hours.

Most altcoins have also turned green, with ETH nearing $1,900 and LDO soaring by 9%.

BTC’s Rollercoaster

The primary cryptocurrency was stuck in a tight range at around $27,000 for weeks, but this finally changed on Monday when the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance, its CEO, and its US affiliate.

BTC reacted with an immediate price drop that drove it south from $27,000 to a two-month low of under $25,500, leaving $300 million in liquidations. As the asset finally got a breath of fresh air, the US securities regulator announced another lawsuit – this time against Coinbase.

BTC dropped once more, this time from $25,800 to under $25,400, to chart another multi-month low. However, the landscape changed quite unexpectedly in the following hours, as the cryptocurrency went on a tear and soared by $2,000 to touch $27,400.

Despite losing several hundred dollars since then and currently sitting below $27,000, BTC is more than 4% up on the day, and its market cap has topped $520 billion once again. Its dominance over the altcoins is also on the rise to 46.4% after declining to 45.8% yesterday.

BTCUSD. Source: TradingView## PEPE, STX on the Rise

The alternative coins suffered just as badly, if not worse, as BTC yesterday, but the landscape is quite different now. ETH dropped to $1,800, but a 3.5% increase since then has pushed the largest altcoin to just under $1,900 as of now.

BNB, expectedly, dumped by over 8% following the SEC’s legal actions against Binance. Although it has not bounced off, the asset has managed to stop the bleeding for now.

Ripple, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Polkadot, and Avalanche are well in the green, with gains of up to 4%. In contrast, Cardano, Polygon, and TRON have declined by 2-3%.

The most substantial gainers in the past 24 hours are Stacks (19%), PEPE (16%), and Terra Classic (15%).

The total crypto market cap has recovered roughly $40 billion in a day and is up to $1.120 trillion.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: Quantify Crypto