Markets: Bitcoin, Ether prices fall with most of crypto top ten, Polygon flips Solana

Bitcoin dipped below US$21,000 in Tuesday morning trading in Asia as Ether and most other tokens in the cryptocurrency top ten by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, lost ground. Polygon was one of the few tokens to gain, leapfrogging Solana by market cap. Solana led the losers.

See related article: Binance to sell FTX token holdings amid questions over trading arm Alameda finances

Fast facts

• Bitcoin fell 1.6% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$20,588 at 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether declined 0.4% to US$1,568, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
• Polygon continued its price run, rising 9.6% to US$1.25 to post gains of 37.9% over the past seven days following the announcement social media giant Instagram was integrating NFTs on its platform using the Polygon network.
• Polkadot was the only other token to gain, rising 4.4% to US$7.12 following the firm announcing that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ruled its native token DOT is considered by the agency to be software, not a security.
• Solana fell 9.8% to US$29.57 on speculation the token is at risk in the controversy surrounding Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX Trading Ltd. and his trading firm Alameda Research. Speculation has emerged that rival crypto exchange Binance Global Inc. could sell large amounts of FTX’s native currency FTT, and that Alameda may try to dump its holdings in Solana to raise its liquidity.  Bankman-Fried tweeted on Monday that “A competitor is trying to go after us with false rumors. FTX is fine.  Assets are fine.”
• U.S. equities were up on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.3%, the S&P 500 Index rose 1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed the day 0.9% higher.
• Investors are wary ahead of Tuesday’s mid-term elections in the U.S. which will decide whether the Democratic Party retains control of both chambers of Congress. In addition, The October Consumer Price Index, a leading measure of inflation, is scheduled for release on Thursday and is a key indicator for how the Federal Reserve may approach further interest rate hikes.