Major coins traded mixed Tuesday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap declined 0.8% to $973.7 billion at press time.

Why It Matters: Bitcoin slipped below the psychologically important $20,000 level on Tuesday as it tracked a weak finish in equities. The $S&P 500 index (.SPX.US)$ and $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ both closed 1.1% lower, while their futures were flat at press time.

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams took a hawkish stance on Tuesday. He told the Wall Street Journal that "we're going to need to have a restrictive policy for some time."

I do think with demand far exceeding supply, we do need to get real interest rates ... above zero. We need to have a somewhat restrictive policy to slow demand, and we're not there yet."

- he said. 

Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said that risk aversion is "firmly back" and has sent the apex coin below the $20,000 mark.

If the broad selloff on Wall Street intensifies, Bitcoin is looking very vulnerable here. If the S&P declines by 3% over the next few days, that could be the catalyst to send Bitcoin back towards the June lows." 

- said Moya in a note, seen by Benzinga.

The dollar index, a measure of the greenback's strength against six of its peers, saw a pullback on Tuesday. At press time, it was down 0.1% at 108.65.

Justin Bennett said that the dollar index was holding below the 109.30 resistance but consolidation below this is "usually a sign of bullish things to come."

The trader tweeted, "I think we see 112-113 in Sept." Notably, $Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ has lately moved in the opposite direction to the dollar index.

Chartist Ali Martinez said almost 82,600 BTC, worth $1.7 billion, have been withdrawn from known cryptocurrency exchange wallets over the last month.

Michaël van de Poppe tweeted that $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ is on the path toward $2,200 as it approaches the transition to a proof-of-stake mechanism.

I'm still expecting continuation of this upwards structure, whether or not [Bitcoin] sweeps $19K for liquidity." 

- said the cryptocurrency trader.

Amid a volatile trading week the "disbelief" is strong among Ethereum traders, said Santiment on Twitter.

"The crowd has [shorted], across exchanges, at the largest ratio since June of 2021. Historically, price rises are more prevalent in these conditions," said the market intelligence platform.