Christmass trading wiped $14B off the cryptocurrency market; Bitcoin and major altcoins stay in red

Cryptocurrency market is sliding down from the recent highs reached before Christmas.
Ethereum Classic is the only coin in green.

On the cryptocurrency markets, Christmass was not as merry as one might expect. All major coins retracted from the recent highs, while the total value of all digital assets in circulation dropped to $128B by the time of writing from $142B on Monday, December 24. The decline might be triggered by profit-taking on short-term speculative longs, intensified by thin market conditions.

Bitcoin is back below 4,000 handle. The digital coin No. 1 is changing hands at $3,748, down nearly 2% since this time on Wednesday and as much as 12% from the recent high $4,234 reached right before Christmas.

Ripple's XRP, the second largest coin by market capitalization, stays at $0.3728, down 2.5% since the beginning of Thursday trading. The coin has lost over 4% in recent 24 hours, moving in sync with other digital assets. XRP/USD peaked at $0.4607 on December 24 and lost 18% of its value since that time.

Ethereum's momentum is just the same. Having touched an area above $160 on Monday, the coin collapsed below $130 to trade at $129.42 at the time of writing. Currently, the coin is consolidating losses within the short-term bearish trend.

Ethereum Classic is the only coin out of top-20 with decent gains. ETC/USD is changing hands at $5.51, which is 11% higher since this time on Wednesday. The coin sits at the 17th place with the current market value of $590M.

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