Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies slid lower on Friday as selling continued in the wake of the debut of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, more evidence that long-awaited regulatory approval has created a “sell the news” dynamic.
The price of Bitcoin fell 2.5% over the past 24 hours to $41,350, having slipped below the $41,000 in earlier trading. The largest crypto spiked above $48,000 at points in the run-up to the debuts of the first spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., but has since tumbled lower from these peaks, which mark the highest point for Bitcoin since early 2022.
“Bitcoin is continuing to struggle in the aftermath of the spot ETF approvals. While we haven’t seen a dramatic decline, the price is still more than 15% off its highs and it broke below $42,000 which appeared to be holding quite well over the last month,” said Craig Erlam, an analyst at broker Oanda. “The key level now could be $40,000, a break of which would be a big psychological blow and perhaps indicate a more intense post-ETF correction is on the cards.”
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
—the second-largest crypto—fell 1% to $2,480. Smaller tokens or altcoins were also weaker, with
Cardano
down 3% and
Polygon
slipping 2%. Memecoins were also in the red, with
Dogecoin
and
Shiba Inu
shedding 2% each.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com
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