Bitcoin fell to a seven-week low on Monday, hovering below $40,000 for the first time since the launch of 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds on Jan. 11.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was last down 3.98% at $39,938.00, trading at its lowest since Dec. 4 after a brief recovery. Ether , the second largest cryptocurrency, was down 6.37% at $2,328.30.
Bitcoin had rallied on growing excitement the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would approve bitcoin ETFs, opening up the cryptocurrency to a slew of new investors. Bitcoin gained around 70% from August, when a federal court forced the SEC to review its decision to reject Grayscale Investment’s bitcoin ETF application.
Some analysts said they had expected bitcoin to initially pare some of those gains.
Other market-watchers said on Monday the cryptocurrency was having trouble competing with traditional stocks after the S&P 500 benchmark index (.SPX), opens new tab notched fresh record highs on Monday driven by semiconductor and other tech stocks.
“It feels like bitcoin investors are running up a descending escalator right now as traditional financial benchmarks enjoy the easier ride to record highs,” said Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of crypto lender Nexo.
Source:https://www.reuters.com/technology/bitcoin-falls-seven-week-low-below-40000-2024-01-22/