Ether (ETH-USD) fell below $4,000 to its lowest point in over seven weeks, intensifying a selloff in digital assets that has wiped away almost $140 billion in market value since Monday.
On Thursday, the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world dropped as much as 4.7% to $3,969, while Bitcoin (BTC-USD) decreased 1.7%.
Other prominent cryptocurrency decliners included Dogecoin USD (DOGE-USD) -3.2%, Uniswap (UNI-USD) -2%, Avalanche (AVAX-USD) -4.8%, Solana (SOL-USD) -3.5%, Stellar (XLM-USD) -3.5%, Celestia (TIA-USD) -2.3%, XRP (XRP-USD) -3.1%, and Binance Coin (BNB-USD) -2.7%.
According to BTC Markets cryptocurrency analyst Rachael Lucas, the drop occurred as “institutional inflows cooled” and “technical signals point to short-term pressure.”
Furthermore, according to decentralized betting platform Polymarket, the odds of a US government shutdown have reached new highs, with the price of Yes-side shares for the betting contract “U.S. government shutdown in 2025?” climbing to 77%, the highest since the contract’s inception in January. Traders are betting on a 77% possibility that the US Office of Personnel Management would announce a government shutdown due to a budget shortfall by December 31, with the chances of a closure as early as October 1 at 63%.
The decrease occurred when “institutional inflows cooled” and “technical signals point to short-term pressure,” according to Rachael Lucas, a cryptocurrency analyst at BTC Markets.
Ether exchange-traded funds listed in the United States have already witnessed roughly $300 million in withdrawals since Monday, when $1.7 billion in optimistic bets were wiped in a sharp drop. Lucas cautioned that further liquidations might occur if Ether falls below $3,800.
Ether-linked ETFs: iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH), Bitwise Ethereum ETF (ETHW), VanEck Ethereum ETF (ETHV), Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH), Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET), Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF (QETH), and 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF (CETH).
Crypto-linked stocks were down premarket: Coinbase (COIN) fell -0.7%, Riot Platforms (RIOT) -0.7%, Marathon Digital (MARA) -0.6%, MicroStrategy (MSTR) -0.5%, Sharplink Gaming (SBET) -3.9%, Bit Digital (BTBT) -1.6%, Bullish (BLSH) -2.2% and BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) -2% — the latter building a large ETH treasury and thus directly sensitive to Ether’s price swings.
