13 September 2026 PM: Ether slips below $2,500 as Sunday gains reverse

Ether has fallen below $2,500 and Solana below $100 as Sunday’s small morning recovery gives way to renewed losses. Bitcoin has also slipped, although its decline is smaller. The afternoon picture is a retreat across several major coins, with the daily sentiment reading still showing optimism that the latest prices do not share.

The recovery described this morning has reversed across all four coins in this update. At around 14:03 BST on 13 September, CoinGecko’s global snapshot values circulating cryptocurrencies at approximately $2.61 trillion, compared with the rounded $2.64 trillion in our morning report. Bitcoin dominance, its share of that estimated total, is around 58.8%. This is a measure of relative market value, not a count of investors choosing Bitcoin.

Alternative.me’s Fear and Greed Index, a daily measure of Bitcoin market sentiment using inputs such as volatility and momentum, remains at 61 in the provider’s Greed category. Yesterday’s reading was 63. Today’s unchanged score does not mean nothing has happened since breakfast: the index and coin prices update on different schedules. It describes sentiment rather than predicting the next price move.

The table summarises observed Bitcoin price changes from CoinGecko. Moves smaller than 0.5% either way are labelled Neutral, larger gains Bullish and equivalent falls Bearish. Weekly and monthly refer to rolling seven and 30 day periods. These are descriptions of past movement, not trading signals, and the four hour comparison uses the nearest available chart samples.

Bitcoin is around $76,700, or £56,700, down approximately 0.8% over 24 hours. That is also about 0.8% below the rounded $77,300 recorded in Sunday morning’s account of the modest recovery. Unlike the morning’s positive daily percentage, both the rolling comparison and the fixed morning reference now point down.

The distinction matters because a daily return alone cannot tell a returning reader what happened since the last update. Its starting price moves forward every hour. Here, the separate morning comparison confirms an actual intraday loss, rather than merely a change caused by an older observation dropping out of the calculation.

Bitcoin’s comparatively small decline should not be mistaken for an outright gain or proof of safety. It has lost ground too. The supported conclusion is that it has held up better than Ether and Solana during this part of Sunday, while remaining below both the morning observation and Saturday afternoon’s similar reference.

Ether is near $2,476, or £1,830, down around 2.3% over 24 hours. Ether, the coin used on Ethereum, has fallen about 1.8% from this morning’s $2,522. It is now below the $2,500 round number as well as the earlier $2,535 reference discussed in Saturday afternoon’s report on Ether regaining ground.

That sequence changes the interpretation of the weekend. The morning report described part of Saturday’s advance as still missing. This afternoon has removed more of that improvement, leaving Ether below Saturday morning’s approximately $2,511 as well. The latest loss is therefore larger than a failure to extend an otherwise intact recovery.

Nothing in these price observations establishes a specific Ethereum announcement as the cause. A broadly shared decline can be reported clearly without attaching it to a convenient headline. For readers, the meaningful change is measurable: Ether has given back the morning level and crossed below a familiar reference, with no evidence here that the round number itself caused the move.

Solana is around $99.65, or £73.63, down approximately 2.4% over 24 hours. Compared with this morning’s $101.75, that is a fall of roughly 2.1%. The $100 reference used in recent updates has now been crossed, and Saturday afternoon’s $102.05 is further away.

A round number is useful for following a sequence, but it is not a guaranteed floor. Moving below it shows that the previous observation no longer holds; it does not establish how far a decline might continue. Solana’s contribution to the afternoon story is a larger intraday retreat than Bitcoin’s, alongside Ether rather than in isolation.

XRP is near $1.34, down around 2.1% over 24 hours. Its morning quote was rounded to $1.37. That provides another example of weakness beyond the two largest coins, although prices rounded to cents are too coarse for a precise intraday percentage. The current coin figures come from CoinGecko’s dollar and sterling price snapshot.

Four falling coins do not describe every token. In this case, however, the lower global valuation points in the same direction as the individual observations. There is broader evidence of a retreat than there was evidence of a recovery when the major coins edged higher this morning.

The useful theme is the gap between a daily sentiment label and the market moving underneath it. Greed can coexist with falling prices because the index combines several inputs and is refreshed less frequently than a live quote. Treating that single word as a description of every hour would hide precisely the reversal visible today.

UK regulatory headlines need a separate clock too. The Financial Conduct Authority’s published timetable sets an application period from 30 September 2026 to 28 February 2027, ahead of the new regime starting on 25 October 2027. That is existing background for the coming weeks. It is not evidence that a fresh regulatory announcement caused this afternoon’s losses.

What to watch into Sunday evening is whether these losses stabilise or erase further weekend ground. Bitcoin’s $77,300 morning reference remains above the current quote. Returning there would recover today’s observed decline; staying below it would leave that loss in place. For Ether, distinguish a return above $2,500 from a fuller recovery towards the morning’s $2,522.

For Solana, $100 and the morning’s $101.75 provide the same distinction between a partial rebound and recovering the observed setback. Finally, compare the next global valuation with approximately $2.61 trillion. Improvement across that wider measure would be more persuasive than one coin bouncing. The practical task is to check the next prices against fixed observations, while keeping the daily sentiment label in its proper context.

Crypto Daily is Cristoniq’s afternoon update on cryptocurrency markets, published every weekday for informational purposes only. Nothing here is financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.