Winner-Turned-Loser ICON Tanks 40 Percent as Crypto Markets Falter

The last week of March has offered no relief to the battered crypto markets.

The total value of all cryptocurrencies fell to $251 billion today – the lowest level since November 23, according to CoinMarketCap. Week-on-week, total market capitalization has declined by 25.6 percent to $263 billion. That’s also down 68 percent from the record high of $830 billion seen in early January.

Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, fell to $6,617 in Asian hours today – its lowest level since Feb. 6. The cryptocurrency has depreciated 19.9 percent on a weekly basis.

Elsewhere, ether (ETH) today printed a fresh 2018 low of $368, as did bitcoin cash ($686) and Ripple’s XRP token ($0.48), while LTC dropped 28 percent, but is still holding well above the Feb. 6 low of $106.94.

That said, a look at the top 25 cryptocurrencies by market cap reveals that losses in ICON’s ICX token, lisk and nano far overshadow the drops seen with heavyweights like BTC, ETH, XRP – perhaps indicating that Twitter’s decision to ban ICO ads has not gone down well with the small-cap tokens.

Meanwhile, there is only one gainer among the 25 cryptocurrencies by market cap this week.

Week’s biggest losers

ICON

Weekly performance: -41.13 percent
All-time high: $12.04
Closing price on Mar. 23: $4.03
Current market price: $2.39
Rank as per market capitalization: 20

ICON’s ICX token, last week’s top gainer, took a beating in the week ended March 30, as the pain of profit taking was possibly accentuated by the broader market sell-off. The token had rallied 64 percent last week on the back of new exchange listing.

Although the rally was backed by strong volumes, the cryptocurrency failed to hold onto gains. The bearish 5-day moving average (MA) and 10-day MA cross seen on the daily chart (as per Binance), indicates a short-term bearish outlook.

The relative strength index (RSI) has also rolled over into bearish territory, thus immediate support at $1.87 (March 17 low) could be put to the test.

Lisk

Weekly performance: -35.41 percent
All-time high: $39.31
Closing price on Mar. 23: $12.03
Current market price: $7.77
Rank as per market capitalization: 22

Lisk (LSK) fell to $ 6.8826 on Bittrex – the lowest level since Dec. 10 – having faced rejection at the 200-day MA in the week ended March 16.

The investor community is associating lisk’s poor performance with developers’ unrealistic expectations, roadmap difficulties and delays. The broader market sell-off seems to have added fuel to the fire.

It’s worth noting that the cryptocurrency dropped 10.9 percent in the previous week, despite the positive tone in the crypto markets. So, it is no surprise that LSK ranks second on the list of the top losers in a bad week for cryptocurrencies.

Nano

Weekly performance: -35.53 percent
All-time high: $34.43
Closing price on Mar. 23: $8.11
Current market price: $5.39
Rank as per market capitalization: 24

Nano (NANO) takes the third spot on the list of top losers for the second week. The nano-bitcoin exchange rate (NANO/BTC) fell to 0.0007944 BTC today – its lowest since Feb. 22.

The cryptocurrency went live on n.exchange earlier this week, but that has failed to put a floor under prices. Further, investors are saying the developers need to put more effort into the marketing side of the business, or widespread adoption will be a distant dream. The negative sentiment, coupled with the wider market weakness could keep NANO under pressure in the coming weeks.

Week’s biggest gainer

Tron

Weekly performance: +6.12 percent
All-time high: $0.30
Closing price on Mar. 23: $0.041137
Current market price: $0.043654
Rank as per market capitalization: 11

Tron blockchain’s TRX token is standing tall as the only gainer in the top 25 this week – perhaps buoyed by the launch of its testnet (infrastructure for the Tron ecosystem) that garnered some attention in the investor community.

The TRX/USD pair listed on Binance remained bid above the 50-day moving average, but the weakness in the crypto markets ensured the cryptocurrency did not rise above $0.0576 (March 2 high). That said, resistance could be taken out next week if the crypto markets return to the positive. Additionally, the new testnet has reportedly gone live and could boost the appeal of the cryptocurrency.

Parachute image via Shutterstock

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