Crypto Carnage: XRP Plunges Below $3 as Bitcoin and Ethereum Teeter on Edge - What’s Driving Today’s Bloodbath?

Crypto markets get absolutely hammered—XRP nosedives below the $3 threshold while Bitcoin and Ethereum flirt with critical support levels that could trigger even more pain.

Market Meltdown Mechanics

Blood runs red across trading screens as major cryptocurrencies take a collective beating. XRP's dramatic collapse below $3 sends shockwaves through altcoin territory, while Bitcoin and Ethereum—the twin titans of crypto—hover dangerously close to levels that historically precede cascading sell-offs.

Traditional Finance's Predictable Panic

Wall Street whales dump positions at the first sign of turbulence—because nothing says 'risk management' like panic-selling into weakness. Meanwhile, retail traders face margin calls while institutional players conveniently forget their 'long-term blockchain thesis' when quarterly bonuses are on the line.

Technical Breakdown or Fundamental Rot?

Support levels crumble faster than a decentralized governance token's voting mechanism. The usual suspects get blamed: regulatory uncertainty, leveraged long positions getting liquidated, and that one influential CEO tweeting cryptic moon emojis right before the crash.

Will the bounce come? Or is this the big one that finally proves the crypto skeptics right? Either way—someone's getting rekt.

The global crypto market has seen a slight pullback in the past 24 hours, with the total market cap dropping to $3.82 trillion, down about 1.03%. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, is trading around $113,602, down 1.15% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum also faced selling pressure, slipping 1.43% to trade at $4,156. Still, ETH remains up over 10% in the last week..

This dip comes as traders cut risk exposure ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on August 23. On-chain data revealed that nearly 12,000 BTC were transferred to exchanges, suggesting profit-taking near recent all-time highs. Large inflows of Bitcoin to exchanges are often viewed as a signal that whales may be preparing to sell.

The biggest question in the crypto market right now is whether the rally for bitcoin and altcoins has already peaked

Altcoins Under Pressure

Altcoins mirrored the broader market decline. XRP dropped 3.28% to $2.89, marking one of the sharper declines among top tokens. Solana (SOL) also slipped 1.45% to $180.81, while Dogecoin (DOGE) was down 1.81%, trading at $0.21.

Cardano (ADA) was hit harder than most, sliding nearly 6% to $0.84, one of the steepest daily losses in the top 10. Other altcoins such as stellar (XLM) and Sui (SUI) also lost over 1.5% each in the same period.

Technical Rejection at $116.8K

Analyst Michaël van de Poppe said that Bitcoin failed to break above the $116.8K resistance level. He wrote, “It is quite clear we have a strong market, but BTC did reject its first test. It could not break through $116.8K, which signals that we are in for new lows in the short term.”

Buying the Dip?

Despite the correction, van de Poppe stressed that this pullback offers opportunities for accumulation. He said that Ethereum’s sharp decline is entering favorable zones for long-term investors. Altcoins such as chainlink (LINK), once considered undervalued at $6, could present another opportunity for accumulation.