Bitcoin Falls Below $41K, Down 7% After Volatile Trading Session Post-December Surge.

(CTN News) – Bitcoin experienced a decline on Monday as investors decided to take profits following its rally in December. The cryptocurrency’s price dropped by over 7% to $40,887.81, as reported by Coinbase.

This decline came after a significant drop on Sunday night, which briefly brought the price as low as $40,300. Last week, Bitcoin reached a high of $44,000 and remained just below that level over the weekend.

In addition to Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies also saw a decrease in value on Monday. Ether fell by 7% to $2,202.92, while Solana’s SOL token and Ripple’s XRP both experienced declines of around 7% and 8% respectively.

Coin Metrics revealed that Ether are on track to have their worst days since August 18 and March 9, respectively.

The negative trend also affected crypto equities. Coinbase saw a decrease of approximately 5%, while MicroStrategy lost 7%.

Bitcoin miners were hit even harder, with Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital, the two largest mining stocks, experiencing declines of 11% and 12% respectively. Wall Street favorites CleanSpark and Iris Energy also saw significant drops of nearly 15% and 14% respectively.

These market movements follow a 12% increase in value in December, fueled by growing expectations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may approve the first spot exchange-traded fund in early January.

Galaxy Digital estimates that the potential market size for a U.S. bitcoin ETF could reach around $14 trillion in its first year after launch, and grow to approximately $26 trillion in the second year.

Bitcoin’s strong momentum continues, with trading activity resembling the early months of 2021. The cryptocurrency has surged by 56% in October and November. After a period of market indifference, Bitcoin’s value has been steadily rising in recent weeks.

This led to a significant increase in liquidations, with $146 million worth of long liquidations and $100 million for ether in the past 22 hours, according to CoinGlass.

Ginsberg suggests that the uptrend is still strong, but analysts want to see a further decline before reassessing.

The introduction of a bitcoin ETF is expected to be positive, along with the upcoming halving. Market participants are also watching the Federal Reserve’s actions for potential interest rate reductions in 2024.

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