Agreed. The uncertainty around BTC is having a huge effect on alts as usual. Any trader worth his salt has had to consider divesting alts with such weakness around BTC. Cash is the place to be right now for many of the traders I chat with.
Add to that the huge risks around working with exchanges, the (misplaced, IMO) hype around sidechains supplanting alts, and the not insignificant hurdles facing DRK development and adoption, and it's no wonder we're going down.
All of that said, there's huge opportunity for those with patience and resolve in markets like these. DRK has a lot going for it, and I'm betting on significant appreciation when / if the BTC market finds its footing and rallies. Don't bet the farm, because that's exactly what this is... a (minimally informed) bet.
Yes people are forgetting the general loss of confidence in Crypto when we have incidents like Mint-Gox, the Mum and Dad investor, who we are going to need to build a new financial world, look the other way...
After the Nov/Dec 2013 boom, all the cooks that joined the kitchen without enough people eating the cabbage, this is just a consolidation and a necessary growing pain.