Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, suffered its biggest price pullback in almost a month, in a sharp retreat just a day after reaching a new all-time high price near $67,000.
The bitcoin price skidded 6% over the past 24 hours in digital-asset markets and was changing hands around $63,000 as of 17:07 coordinated universal time (1:07 p.m. ET) on Thursday.
The record high on Wednesday came as the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy Exchange-Traded Fund (stock ticker BITO) started trading on the New York Stock Exchange this week. That launch brought in $570 million of assets and garnered $1 billion of trading volume during its first day, one of the most successful ETF launches of all time.
To some market commentators, Thursday’s price drop looked more like a short-term retreat than the beginning of a prolonged slide. Earlier this week, analysts told CoinDesk they saw bullish indicators in price charts, touting predictions of $80,000, $86,000, even $100,000.
“Long-term holders do not appear to be selling just yet, so this is likely just a short-term pullback,” said Lucas Outumoro, head of research at IntoTheBlock.
After four days of a solid rally, it’s time for a reset before the next ascent, according to Laurent Kssis, director of CEC Capital.
“The market remains bullish overall,” he said.
Kay Khemani, managing director at Spectre.ai, says this volatility is perfectly normal in any asset that has rallied significantly over many weeks to break new all-time highs. He sees the next psychological resistance level at the $70,000 mark.
“Trepidation is bound to set in as investors and traders alike seek to lock in their gains ahead of possible limit orders set at the $70K mark,” said Khemani.
With the launch of more bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds on the horizon, there’s speculation that a warm reception might provide a positive catalyst.
VanEck revealed it had secured approval to launch its bitcoin-linked ETF in a post-effective filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, which could have a similar effect on market sentiment that ProShares’ initial launch had. Valkyrie Investments’ bitcoin futures ETF has won the blessing of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is set to start trading on Friday, under the ticker BTF on the Nasdaq. The crypto-native fund manager is the third sponsor of bitcoin futures ETFs to clear all regulatory hurdles.
“When another ETF is announced, bitcoin will continue this upward movement and momentum,” said Matt Case, analyst at Quantum Economics.
