DeFi Market Stabilizes After White Knuckle Drops Monday

Crypto markets Tuesday morning appeared to be shaking off gut-wrenching falls in the last 24 hours. At one point Monday, At one point, ETH nosedived 2.8% in an hour.

Ethereum was up 0.5% in trading at 7:15 AM, according to CoinGecko data. Cardano increased 0.4% and Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink were flat. So, too, was Bitcoin.

The respite was most welcome after investors sought cover on news Monday that China Evergrande Group, one of the nation’s biggest property developers, was going sideways on more than $300 billion in loans. Global equity indexes plunged throughout the day but rallied to finish with modest declines — the Standard & Poor’s 500 ended Monday down 1.5%.

On Tuesday, U.S. equity index futures were up ahead of the opening bell, according to Bloomberg News. And the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong, the best bellwether for possible contagion from the China Evergrande situation, eked out a 0.5% uptick as bargain hunters scooped up beaten down stocks.

Real Estate Bubble

Still, the volatility may be far from over. On Monday, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said China Evergrande was likely to default and that Beijing may need to bail out the Shenzhen-based financial giant. Fears of a Chinese real estate bubble have been simmering in the world’s second biggest economy for years.

It’s hard to predict how the crisis will affect DeFi. But one thing is certain — most players have done so well this year that they’re resting on sizable cushions of gains. Solana is up 93% in the last 30 days, and Avalanche has jumped 42%.