Crypto Correction: Bitcoin and Ether Dive as Market Sheds $13 Billion

Is the long-awaited 'crypto correction' finally here?

There was certainly ample evidence to suggest the answer was yes today, as cryptocurrencies both large and small suffered widespread losses, a decline that analysts attributed to profit taking from veteran investors.

Overall, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies fell to as little as $91.4bn today, a more than 20% decline from the all-time high of $117.2bn it reached around mid-June, and down over 13% from the day's open at $105.3bn.

At the time of report, the top 20 cryptocurrencies as ranked by market capitalization had all suffered declines in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Charles Hayter, co-founder and CEO of leveraged cryptocurrency platform CryptoCompare, asserted in his comments that the decline was evidence of how hype had impacted the markets of late.

With media outlets portraying the market as one driven by easy gains, investors drawn to the space, he said, did not know "what they were getting into".