The bullish optimism seen earlier in the week was dialed back on Nov. 4 after recent comments from United States Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed that the central bank would soon start to taper its monetary policy of easing and bond-buying. 

These statements appear to have kicked off a series of price decreases across the crypto market and both Bitcoin 

BTC

$20,719

 and Ether 

ETH

$1,527

 are under pressure at the moment.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price action for BTC flashed a warning when the price briefly dipped to $60,400 on Nov. 3 and currently BTC is struggling to hold the $61,000 level.

Ether has also seen its price inch lower over the course of the day after setting a new record high of $4,664 on Nov. 3. At the time of writing, the top altcoin is trading at $4,473, marking a decline of 5%.

According to independent market analyst ‘Rekt Capital’, Ether needs to close the week above its previous all-time high of $4,460 if it hopes to keep its positive momentum going.

Related: Chainlink’s total value secured surpasses $75B as DeFi continues to surge

High flying altcoins take a beating

The pullback in BTC and Ether has hit the altcoin market hard and pushed a majority of the tokens in the top 200 into the red.

Some of the hardest-hit tokens are the projects that have seen some of the biggest gains in recent weeks, including a 17.22% decrease in the price of Shiba Inu (SHIB) and a 38% pullback in the price of OriginTrail (TRAC), which recently spiked to a new record high after being listed on Coinbase.

There are, however, a few bright spots in the market amid today's sea of red. The AI-powered delegated proof-of-stake protocol Velas (VLX) has seen its token gain 30.4% on the day and now trades at $0.4341, while Chromia (CHR) has gained 26.47% and Amp has seen its price increase by 20.53%.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.686 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 43%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.