BTC fell nearly 5% in the past 24 hours, reaching its lowest level in two months. The CoinDesk 20, a liquid index of the highest tokens by market capitalization, fell 7%.
The cryptocurrency pulled back to as low as $38,700 before recovering slightly. The token had recently hit a two-year high of over $49,000 as spot bitcoin ETFs began trading in the US on January 11, 2024.
Part of the recent selling pressure on bitcoin has been traced back to sales from the FTX bankruptcy estate, which has dumped some 22 million shares of Grayscale’s GBTC in the past few weeks, as CoinDesk reported.
“Sell the news” is a well-known term in capital markets and describes how asset prices, leverage and sentiment push prices higher in the lead-up to a bullish event, only for prices to tumble shortly after, businessinside.com reported.
The approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the US was much anticipated and well priced, and the event is “likely to be a short- to mid-term top for the price,” analysts at Japan-based crypto exchange bitBank told CoinDesk in an email.