Cryptocurrency market update: Bitcoin and major altcoins in retreat again

• Bitcoin and major altcoins are under selling pressure during early Asian hours.
• No follow-through after a move above $10,000 bodes ill for BTC.

The cryptocurrency market is in retreat in Asia on Thursday after a strong performance during late Wednesday trading. Bitcoin (BTC) is balancing on $10,000, while major altcoins show mixed dynamics. Litecoin (LTC) is the best-performing asset out of top-20 with over 5% on gains on a day-on-day basis; UNUA SED LEO (LEO) is a loser of the day - the coin is down 2% from this time on Wednesday.

The total capitalization of all digital assets in circulation increased to $275 billion. The total trading volume climbed to $52 billion, while Bitcoin's market share surpassed 65% barrier.

Top-4 coins price overview

Bitcoin (BTC/USD) retreated from the intraday high of $10,166 to trade marginally above critical $10,000 by the time of writing. Despite the recovery, the bull's momentum seems to be fading away. The shrinking volatility may signal that the bulls are not ready to push the coin higher. Anyway, we will need to see a follow-through before we can claim that the breakthrough above $10,000 is valid. BTC/USD has gained about 3.5% on a day-on-day basis and stayed unchanged since the beginning of Thursday.

Ethereum, the second-largest digital asset with the current market capitalization of $22.9 billion, has grown by 1.1% on a day-on-day basis and lost 2% since the start of the Asian session on Thursday. ETH/USD is hovering above $210; however, the downside momentum is gaining traction after a failed attempt to break above $220.00. 

Ripple's XRP remains capped by $0.3200 handle. Another attempt to break above this handle yielded no results and pushed the coin towards $0.3160 by the time of writing. Ripple's current market capitalization is registered at $13.6 billion. The coin has stayed unchanged on a day-on-day basis and lost 1% of its value since the beginning of Thursday.

Litecoin (LTC/USD) is the strong-performer with nearly 6% of gains on a day-on-day basis. The fourth-largest coin with the current market capitalization of $6.0 billion, stopped within a whisker of $100.00 during early Asian hours on Thursday and retreated towards $96.60 by the time of writing.