Share this article
Polkadot Leads Altcoin Losses After Bitcoin Is Rejected at $52K
Markets saw a pullback on Tuesday after a relatively flat weekend.
Updated May 11, 2023, 4:45 p.m. Published Dec 28, 2021, 11:39 a.m.
Bitcoin failed to hold above $52,000 after briefly breaking through the resistance level on Monday, and slipped below $49,500 in early European trading hours on Tuesday, pulling the broader market lower.
Leading losses among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were Polkadot’s DOT tokens, which fell 8% in 24 hours after being a top gainer on Sunday. Others such as solana , and XRP averaged losses of 3.4%, while binance coins gained 0.4%.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
A catalyst for DOT’s upward price movement last week was the start of the second batch of parachain auctions on the Polkadot network. Parachains are distinct blockchains that run atop the main Polkadot network. Polkadot, however, has a limited number of openings available. To gain access, a parachain has to win a community-run auction that uses DOT to vote for slots, leading to increased demand for the cryptocurrency.
DOT surged to over $32 on Monday, but traders have since taken profits and the tokens exchanged hands for $28 in Asian trading hours on Tuesday. They are, however, still 20% higher than last Tuesday.
Prices slipped, falling below the 34-day moving average – a tool used to determine market trends using past prices – in Asian trading hours Tuesday. Failing to trade above the moving average indicates DOT’s decline from $54 highs in November is likely to continue.
Other big losers among large-cap cryptocurrencies were tokens of decentralized payments network and Ethereum scaling solution , with both sliding 7% in the past 24 hours.
Tokens of the two surged in the past week following favorable catalysts: decentralized finance (DeFi) activity rose on Terra as crypto investors bet on the network as the next DeFi play, while the launch of top Ethereum-based exchange Uniswap on Polygon saw demand for MATIC increase.
Ethereum rivals, gaming cryptos fall
Outside of the top 20, tokens of Ethereum rival blockchains took hits. and – which surged last week as traders searched for the next ecosystem that could replicate Ethereum’s success – slid 8%, while dropped as much as 9% in the past 24 hours, data from CoinGecko showed.
Gaming-related cryptocurrencies were another losing sector. tokens declined 7%, while fan-favorites Axie Infinity (AXS) and both lost 4.4% following record surges in the past few months.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
These Three Metrics Show Bitcoin Found Strong Support Near $80,000
Onchain data shows multiple cost basis metrics confirm heavy demand and investor conviction around the $80,000 price level.
What to know:
- Bitcoin rebounded from the $80,000 region after a sharp correction from its October all time high, with price holding above the average entry levels of key metrics.
- The convergence of the True Market Mean, U.S. ETF cost basis, and the 2024 yearly cost basis around the low $80,000 range highlights this zone as a major area of structural support.
Top Stories
