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Bitcoin slid below $60,000 as traders liquidated the most positions in a month.
Prices for the biggest digital asset lost 5% to $58,975 as of 10:44 a.m. in London, reaching the lowest intraday price in almost two weeks. Ether also sank about 5% and smaller tokens took a hit, with Dash and EOS tumbling more than 10%.
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 $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.
Bitcoin also broke below its 20-day moving average, a technical move that could invite more selling.
The token has been on a historic rally, surpassing $65,000 last week, as two futures-backed U.S. Bitcoin ETFs made their debut and attracted more than $1 billion in cash. The coin is still up more than 30% this month.
“The price slump is being fueled by sellers, who appear to be acting simultaneously in taking profits on their investment,” said Petr Kozyakov, co-founder and CEO of the global payments network Mercuryo. “The price correction is an organic one and was not triggered by a clear-cut fundamental.”
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