ETH/USD: Ether Prices Wash Out 50% from 2024 Peak as Crypto Selloff Goes from Bad to Terrible

Second-largest crypto tumbled to almost $2,000 per coin Monday morning as part of a broader selloff that turned into a painful rout.

• Ethereum ETHUSD is having a nightmarish August so far. The second-largest cryptocurrency is reliving its worst times since 2021 as it’s down 33% since the start of the month. Moreover, Ether washed out all its gains for the year Monday morning as it dipped under $2,100 a token, logging a nearly 50% drop from its 2024 peak of $4,100 hit in early March. Prices rebounded later in the session and were last floating near $2,300 a pop.
• Markets sold off big time after a weaker-than-expected jobs report fueled fears that the US economy may be heading into a recession. For July, US employers added 114,000 new hires, well below the 174,000 expected. The cold figure spurred a run to safety across all risk assets, jolting everything from stocks, to the US dollar to Bitcoin.
• With that much uncertainty lurking in the distance, traders are highly risk averse, especially when it comes to the inherently risky asset of cryptocurrency. The recent launch of the spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds in the US didn’t help brighten up the mood. In fact, they made the selloff worse as it turned into a rout. On Friday, the nine approved spot-trading Ether vehicles logged a record $54.3 million in net outflows.