Altcoins took the brunt of Tuesday's market retrace as investor caution increased ahead of the release of minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's November meeting.

Bitcoin fell 0.8% over the past 24 hours to $36,976 at 11:40 a.m. ET, according to CoinGecko.

The decrease in value of the world's largest digital asset by market capitalization was overshadowed by the decline experienced by altcoins, such as Solana and ether. In the past 24 hours, ether slipped below the $2,000 mark to $1,990, a fall of over 3%. Solana fell further in the same period, dropping by almost 7% to now change hands at $55.35.

"Bitcoin has not sold off as much as other coins because when it is compared to other assets, like Solana and ether, it is considered far safer, less volatile, and a lower beta asset," …