Major cryptocurrencies extended losses on Thursday. Bitcoin continued to hover below $21,000, Ethereum maintained ground near $1,600. The global crypto market cap stood at $992.74 billion with a volume of $78.09 billion in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin — the world's largest and most popular virtual currency — fell 1.7 percent to $20,099.2. Its market value stood at $385.5 billion. The trade volume was at $37.8 billion.

Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of Mudrex, "Bitcoin remains to trade below the $20,500 level on Wednesday, confirming the sellers' pressure. The sudden plunge of BTC from the $22,000 mark is due to an unanticipated number from the Consumer Price Index report."

If buyers can move BTC above the $20,575 level, we may see some potential upward movement, Patel said.

Ethererum or Ether — the second largest virtual currency — however, climbed over a percent to $1,617.6 with a market capitalisation of $197.8 billion. The trade volume of Ethereum was $18.7 billion in the last 24 hours.

On Ethereum, Patel said, "ETH looks neither bullish nor bearish. This volatility in the crypto market could be due to Ethereum's transaction to PoS. As the Merge draws by, it seems like BTC and ETH are preparing for a key price movement."

Meme-based virtual currency Dogecoin was marginally up with a market capitalisation of almost $8 billion. Shiba Inu was trading 2.4 percent lower while Solana fell 0.8 percent to $33.5 billion.

On the domestic front, Indian equity indices — BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 — are expected to make a muted start on Wednesday tracing mixed moves across global markets.

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