Why is crypto down today? A stablecoin shift appears on the horizon

The global cryptocurrency market is witnessing correction with some investors shifting focus to stablecoins.

According to data provided by CoinGecko, the total crypto market cap slipped by 04% in the past 24 hours — falling from $2.38 trillion to $2.34. The global daily trading volume, however, increased by 27%, surpassing the $52 billion mark.

Global crypto market cap – May 13 | Source: CoinGecko

Data shows that stablecoins are dominating the total trading volume with USDT ranking first — with over $34.5 billion in daily trading volume. Per CoinGecko, the largest stablecoin has a total market cap of $110 billion at the time of writing.

Moreover, the 24-hour trading activity involving USDC also surged by 22%, reaching $3.56 billion.

FDUSD also witnessed a 46% increase in daily trading volume, surpassing the $4.5 billion mark. On the other hand, DAI’s 24-hour trading activities plunged by 17.2%, falling to $652 million.

According to data from CryptoQuant, the marketwide bearish momentum comes as the Coinbase Premium trend says “wait and see.”

Per the analysis, the Coinbase Premium momentum is currently hovering in the positive zone with traders patiently waiting for the pattern to be repeated for the fifth time in the past two years. The analyst wrote:

“If the historical pattern repeats itself, we may have a better chance of success if we wait a bit longer and invest in the rebound after the trend turns negative.”

At this point, 88% of the leading 200 cryptocurrencies are wandering in the red zone, per data from CoinGecko. Despite the downturn, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.4% in the past 24 hours and is trading at $61,660 at the reporting time.

The Ethereum (ETH) price surged by 0.6% over the past day and is currently changing hands at $2,925.