Crash

bullish

Altcoin

Bitcoin’s troubles only intensified as the legacy financial markets started to open during the night, with the asset dipping to a new multi-week low of under $77,000.
Most altcoins have followed suit with painful declines from ETH, DOGE, and especially BCH. On the contrary, HYPE and ZEC have defied the crash.
<h2 id="btc-below-77k">BTC Below $77K</h2>
The previous business week was significantly more bullish for the primary cryptocurrency. It began with some volatility on Sunday that included a dip below $80,400, but it quickly rebounded and gained $2,000 in minutes. Although it was stopped there at first, BTC returned to the $82,000 level on Tuesday, only to be halted once again.
This correction was more painful and pushed it south to under $79,000 on Wednesday. The bulls took the upper hand on Thursday after the CLARITY Act <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/clarity-act-passes-senate-banking-committee-what-does-this-mean-for-crypto/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">passed</a> the US Senate Banking Committee, and bitcoin returned to $82,000. However, this turned out to be another fakeout, and the subsequent rejections have been quite brutal.
The asset <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/bitcoin-rejected-at-80k-as-inflation-fears-outweigh-clarity-act-progress-weekly-recap/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">fell</a> to under $80,000 by Saturday and down to $78,000 on Sunday. After spending 24 hours fighting to stay above that support, it gave in on Monday morning after Trump’s <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/660m-liquidated-as-bitcoin-crashes-on-trump-iran-escalation-fears/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">latest threats against Iran</a>. Bitcoin dropped to $76,500 for the first time in roughly three weeks, and currently stands below $77,000.
Its market capitalization is down to $1.540 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts remains above 58%.
<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://cryptopotato.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BTCUSD-May-18-1.png" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><img src="https://cryptopotato.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BTCUSD-May-18-1.png" alt="BTCUSD May 18. Source: TradingView" width="1835" height="917"></a>
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 BTCUSD May 18. Source: TradingView
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<h2 id="hype-up-most-down">HYPE Up, Most Down</h2>
Ethereum is close to breaking below $2,100 after another 3% drop on a daily scale. BNB is down to $640 after a 2% decline, while XRP is under $1.40 following a similar dip. DOGE has plunged by over 5% daily, while BCH has plummeted by more than 11% and now struggles at $365.
With most other alts in the red, there are two evident exceptions – HYPE and ZEC. The former has soared past $45, while the latter stands at around $530. Pi Network’s native token continues to dig new local lows, <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/pi-networks-pi-plunges-to-new-3-month-low-despite-hype-around-game-changing-update/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">dumping</a> below $0.15 earlier today.
The total crypto market cap has shed another $50 billion and is down to $2.630 trillion as of press time.
<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://cryptopotato.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-18-121654.png" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><img src="https://cryptopotato.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-18-121654.png" alt="Cryptocurrency Market Overview May 18. Source: QuantifyCrypto" width="1882" height="824"></a>
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 Cryptocurrency Market Overview May 18. Source: QuantifyCrypto
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The post <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/hype-defies-altcoin-crash-as-btc-dips-below-77k-market-watch/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">HYPE Defies Altcoin Crash as BTC Dips Below $77K: Market Watch</a> appeared first on <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CryptoPotato</a>.

HYPE Defies Altcoin Crash as BTC Dips Below $77K: Market Watch

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