Here’s why Pi Network, Dogecoin, XRP, and Monero are crashing

Bitcoin and most altcoins were deeply in the red today, February, with the market capitalisation of all coins falling by nearly 3% in the last 24 hours.

Humanity Protocol token plunged by nearly 12%, while top altcoins like Pi Network (PI), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ripple (XRP), and Monero (XMR) fell by nearly 10% and erased most of the gains made during the weekend.

Pi Network, Dogecoin, XRP and Monero are falling amid profit-taking

One of the main reasons why top altcoins like Pi Network, XRP, Dogecoin, and Monero are plunging is that investors are booking profits after the weekend surge, when they were among the best-performing coins in the crypto industry.

At its peak, Pi Coin price was up by over 50% from its lowest level this year as investors waited for the start of a series of network upgrades, as it seeks to achieve Stellar's Protocol 22.

XRP price was up to $1.6665, much higher than the year-to-date low of $1.1110. Humanity Protocol token rose to $0.2530, up by 140% from the year-to-date low.

Therefore, a closer look shows that the top laggards today were among the top gainers during the weekend. That is a sign that investors are booking profits after the strong surge following the US published encouraging consumer inflation report.

Low volume and open interest in the crypto market

Meanwhile, tokens are falling because of the ongoing low volume and open interest in the crypto market.

Data compiled by CoinGlass shows that the futures open interest dropped by over 3% in the last 24 hours to over $95 billion.

At its peak last year, the crypto market had a futures open interest of over $255 billion as investors embraced large leverage offered by companies like Hyperliquid and Aster.

The open interest has tumbled after the massive liquidation event in October last year, as most tokens crashed.

XRP’s futures open interest dropped to $2.5 billion from last year’s high of over $10 billion. Similarly, Dogecoin’s open interest dropped to over $1.22 billion, while that of Bitcoin dropped to $4o billion.

The volume of cryptocurrencies traded on Monday also continued falling, reaching $2.35 trillion. It has dropped by over 2.6% in the last 24 hours, a trend that may continue this week.

The US markets are closed today for the President’s Day holiday. Also, the Chinese markets are closed this week for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Technicals have contributed to the crypto crash

A closer look at all these tokens shows that most of them maintained their weak technicals despite the weekend rally.

A good example of this is XRP, whose chart is shown above.

This chart shows that the coin has remained below the important support level at $1.807, its lowest level in October, November, and December last year.

XRP price has also remained below all moving averages and the Supertrend indicators.

As such, remaining below these indicators and the resistance level at $1.807 is a sign that the downward trend remains.

The coin has now formed a shooting star candlestick pattern, which is made up of a small body and a long upper shadow.

This pattern often leads to more downside, meaning that it may retreat to the year-to-date low of $1.1110 soon.

The same will happen with the other top altcoins like Monero and Pi Network, which have a bearish technicals