Bitcoin reached an almost four-week low, with the cryptocurrency continuing to lose momentum since breaking above $30,000 earlier this month for the first time since June.
The original digital currency was little changed on Monday after earlier falling as much as 1.9% to $26,989. That was the first time the price was below $27,000 since March 28. Other digital assets were mostly flat to higher, with Ether little changed and Avalanche up about 2%.
Crypto-related stocks also extended their slide from last week. Coinbase, the biggest US digital exchange, has slumped for six straight trading sessions since Bitcoin hit its recent high of around $31,000 on March 14. MicroStrategy retreated for a fourth day.
There has been some “overheating” of the market, said Aya Kantorovich, co-founder of blockchain startup Fractal. After Bitcoin hit a resistance point at $30,000, some traders also took “small realized gains off the table,” she said.
“At this point the pullback is still viewed as nothing more than a correction within what has become a more constructive outlook since breaking back above $25,000,” Joel Kruger, a market strategist at LMAX Group, said in a direct message.
“We’ll look for any additional setbacks to be well-supported into the $25,000 area ahead of the formation of the next higher low and fresh upside extension back through $30,000 and to new yearly high,” he added.
Ether has also lost momentum since a long-touted software upgrade in the middle of last month. It fell last week for the first time in four weeks.
“This most recent selling is more ETH-led and BTC pulled down as a result of beta,” Shiliang Tang, chief investment officer of digital-asset investment firm LedgerPrime, said in a direct message. Tang pointed out that after Ethereum blockchain completed its so-called Shanghai, or Shapella, upgrade, some Ether tokens were up for sale when they were withdrawn from being offered to help operate the network in exchange for rewards.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
