Bitcoin’s price comes crashing down a week after all-time high
Bitcoin’s price crashed on Wednesday morning, falling below $60,000 (£43,725), just a week after hitting a new all-time high.
At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC-USD) was down roughly 6% to trade at $59,115. Last week, it had soared to an all-time high of around $67,000, a day after the first-ever bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (^AMZI).
Ethereum (ETH-USD), the world's second largest crypto by market cap, was down 4% and was trading at $4,004.
"The prices of bitcoin have shed approximately 8% in the last 24 hours as the crypto-asset struggles to hold firm above the psychological level of $60,000," Kunal Sawhney, the CEO of equities research firm Kalkine Group, told Yahoo Finance UK.
He believes a 5% to 10% correction is "quite normal" when prices have already escalated more than 55% in a month.
"This seems like a window for profit-booking as bitcoin prices advanced exceptionally in the present month, hitting a fresh all-time high of $67,000 from sub-$42,000 levels," he said.
But alongside profit-booking, he believes investors’ optimism has taken a hit after a choppy Wall Street session earlier in the week, with the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) closing flat.
Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrency?
He added that increased activity on launching the digital euro by the European Central Bank (ECB) has also impacted confidence, and he feels regulatory hurdles will continue to hurt cryptocurrencies unless a major central bank or a capital market watchdog take the direct control of dealing and transactions.
Earlier the ECB had appointed an advisory group for its digital euro project made up of 30 members from business backgrounds.
The group will have a say in the design, distribution, and value that this new digital currency can provide for the payments ecosystem.
Meanwhile Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, said: “Cryptos are generally down today as traders are booking profit. In addition to this, there is also lack of upward momentum which we really need for this crypto rally to continue."
Watch: What is bitcoin?
