Bitcoin breaks below US$60,000 as ETF-related bliss evaporates
BNN Bloomberg
Bitcoin slid below US$60,000 as euphoria over the first U.S. crypto ETF dissipated and traders took profits following a record-breaking rally.
Bitcoin slid below US$60,000 as euphoria over the first U.S. crypto ETF dissipated and traders took profits following a record-breaking rally.
The biggest digital asset by market value fell as much as 6.4 per cent to US$58,132, reaching the lowest intraday price in almost two weeks. It climbed to US$66,976 on Oct. 20. Ether also sank about 6 per cent and smaller tokens took a hit, with Dash and EOS each tumbling more than 10 per cent. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, which tracks some of the largest digital coins, fell 5.3 per cent at one point.
“I’m not surprised Bitcoin hit a wall at US$67,000, having passed the April high, given the speed of the move from US$30,000 in July,” said Antoni Trenchev, managing partner and co-founder of Nexo, a crypto lender. “Bitcoin needs to cool off before it embarks on its next leg up.”
Analysts said speculators are cutting back on positions as the launch of the first U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded fund fanned enthusiasm and pushed prices to new all-time highs. Total liquidations of long crypto positions topped US$700 million on Wednesday, the most since Sept. 20, according to data from Bybt.com.
“The market has been leveraged long for a few weeks, so there has been that overhang in positioning,” said Jonathan Cheesman, head of over-the-counter and institutional sales at crypto-derivatives exchange FTX.
