Cryptocurrency prices fell sharply on Monday after weakening over the weekend due to a sudden spike in volatility. Most of the top virtual coins witnessed a significant decline over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell sharply on Monday and was trading at $45,454.82 or 5.45 per cent lower than its price 24 hours ago at 1:00 pm. Bitcoin’s market capitalisation fell to $855 billion and the 24-hour trading volume stood at $849 million.

Ether also fell sharply today as trading momentum fell and its value stood at $3,166, down nearly 8 per cent compared to its value 24 hours ago. The market capitalisation also fell to $371 billion and the 24-hour trading volume stood at $815 million.

Most other altcoins such as XRP, Cardano, Polkadot, Stellar, Dogecoin, Chainlink, Uniswap and Litecoin crashed. It may be noted that the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation declined by more than 5 per cent.

Commenting on the weak momentum, Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex, a global algorithm based crypto investment platform, said, “The cryptocurrency market appears to have begun the week on a highly volatile note.”

“Most of the top cryptos witnessed significant declines over the past 24 hours. Traded volumes went up by over 7 per cent, and the total market cap declined by more than 5 per cent. Long-term investors need not panic, as, after an intense rally which we saw a couple of weeks back, such volatility is only rational,” he added.