AI Coins See $4.7 Billion Rout since Start of October, More Pain Ahead?

Amid the expectations of a bullish October, the broader crypto market has given a surprise move on the downside with artificial intelligence (AI) and big-data tokens seeing $4.7 billion in the last three days itself.

Initially valued at $38.82 billion as of September 30, the AI coin market cap dropped to $34.13 billion as of October 3. This happens as Bitcoin and altcoins have seen a major slide as the overall market sentiment flips bearish amid the escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict. This has completely spoiled the market mood of “Uptober” anticipated by the broader market. Some market analysts have been jokingly saying that this is turning out to be a “Rektober” instead of “Uptober”.

Among the list of artificial intelligence (AI) and Big data tokens, Near Protocol NEAR $2.06 24h volatility: 0.2% Market cap: $2.48 B Vol. 24h: $142.70 M has seen the steepest decline with a 15% fall on the weekly chart. As of press time, the NEAR price is down by 5.19% dropping all the way to $4.56.

Some of the other top-performing tokens such as Bittensor TAO $260.8 24h volatility: 7.0% Market cap: $2.25 B Vol. 24h: $128.96 M and Internet Computer ICP $4.78 24h volatility: 0.9% Market cap: $2.32 B Vol. 24h: $44.38 M witnessed substantial price declines of 9.3% and 13.35% respectively. This trend has impacted the broader AI and big data market, with tokens like Render (RNDR) dropping 13.64% to $6.25, and Artificial Superintelligence Alliance FET $0.50 24h volatility: 4.7% Market cap: $1.31 B Vol. 24h: $110.49 M falling 16.68% to $1.38.

Uptober Turns to Rektober?

Historically, October has been a month of solid gains and market stability, with many anticipating upward momentum for Bitcoin BTC $84 507 24h volatility: 0.5% Market cap: $1.68 T Vol. 24h: $13.65 B and altcoins. However, 2024 has bucked this trend, with nearly $5 billion erased from the AI and big data token market cap within the first three days of the month.

The broader crypto market has also faced a downturn, influenced by geopolitical tensions, including the Middle East conflict, regulatory challenges, and macroeconomic concerns. Additionally, the $140 billion liquidity infusion by the Chinese central bank PBoC in the market hasn’t led to any major surge in crypto, unlike the 20% short-squeeze in the Chinese stock market.

The good thing is that despite the current downturn, the AI coins are performing still better than in July when the sector’s market cap was around $20 billion. Even after the fall, it’s still 70% up from July just within two months. During the months of August and September, the AI and Big data tokens added a total of $13 billion to the market cap.

All eyes will be currently on the Bitcoin price trajectory and how it moves going ahead from here. Everyone is quite optimistic for the BTC price to touch $100K levels in Q4 this year. If so, this could pull altcoins even higher with sectors like AI and meme coins making the most of the rally.

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