Thursday evening brought a subdued, mildly cautious session to the crypto market, with the overwhelming majority of major tokens trading lower as of 6:00 PM IST on 21 May 2026. There was no panic — but there was little joy either. Think of it as a slow exhale after recent excitement, with red ticks dominating the board and only a couple of tokens managing to swim against the current.
Bitcoin, the bellwether of the entire asset class, settled at ₹74.10 lakh ($77,040.09), down 0.56% over 24 hours. The dip was modest but directionally clear — sellers had a slight edge on the day. Ethereum tracked a similar path, slipping 0.75% to ₹2.03 lakh ($2,111.30), making it one of the session’s more notable decliners among the large-caps.
Further down the market, BNB edged 0.25% lower to ₹62,258.02 ($647.24), while Solana fell 0.69% to ₹8,219.44 ($85.45). XRP was comparatively resilient, dipping just 0.29% to ₹130.96 ($1.36) — a relatively mild move in the context of the broader softness on display.
Cardano bore the sharpest pain among the major tokens tracked, dropping 1.08% to ₹23.69 ($0.2463) to claim the unwanted title of the session’s biggest loser. Chainlink was close behind, falling 1.04% to ₹915.92 ($9.52). Both coins underperformed even the broader losing trend, making for a rough Thursday for holders of either.
Amid all the red, Polygon was the clear standout — and by some distance. The token surged 2.57% to ₹20.99 ($0.2182), easily topping the gainers’ chart and offering a flash of green in an otherwise dreary evening. Dogecoin also held its head above water with a 0.51% gain to ₹10.01 ($0.1041), proving once again that the meme coin marches to its own beat. Polkadot, listed as the third gainer, was essentially flat at ₹119.95 ($1.25), down a negligible 0.03%.
Totting up the scoreboard, eight of the ten tokens tracked were in the red, with only Polygon and Dogecoin posting genuine gains. That ratio tells the story of the session plainly: this was a market leaning lower across the board, even if the falls were measured rather than dramatic. Polygon’s pop aside, Thursday evening was largely one for patience rather than celebration.
Market data sourced from Yahoo Finance. Prices reflect closing/last traded values as of Thursday, 21 May 2026, 6:00 PM IST. Data may be delayed by approximately 5 minutes. This article is for informational purposes only.
