The price of Bitcoin {{{BTC}}} fell to a low of $67,000 during Asian trading hours on Friday, down 7%, before recovering to around $68,500.
The CoinDesk 20 Index, a measure of the largest and most liquid digital assets, fell 6%. Data from CoinGlass shows that over $100 million of long positions were eliminated over the past 12 hours, while $167 million of long positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours.
Other assets such as gold and Wall Street's tech-heavy Nasdaq index were also under pressure this week.
Some analysts describe BTC's pullback from its record highs as a typical break after sharp upward trends.
“The last one is strong [U.S.] CPI data further tempered expectations for a Fed rate cut, and gold prices also fell. The recent rise in bitcoin prices has been too fast for the market to price it correctly, so a current correction is expected, Greta Yuan, head of research at VDX, a Hong Kong-licensed exchange, said in a note.
Adrian Wang, founder and CEO of Metalpha, said the market could adjust to the uncertainty before the mining reward is halved next month.
“The historical trading volume of Blackrock's Bitcoin ETF has caused some concern in the market, as some stakeholders fear that the price of bitcoin will rise too much too soon and may experience a sudden collapse,” Wang said in an email interview with CoinDesk. “The price correction indicates that the market is adjusting its expectations for Bitcoin given the uncertainties that the halving event also presents.”
However, the declines are likely to be fleeting, according to Singapore-based QCP Capital.
“It is very difficult for such short selling to create a lasting impact on the upside as long as daily demand for BTC ETFs remains strong,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a note posted on Telegram on Friday morning, adding that some of the… Volatility is expected over the weekend as the market prepares for the release of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes next week.
“[QCP]“Our desk saw strong demand for 100-150k BTC calls at the end of the year,” he continued in the note.
A predictive market contract on Polymarket gives a 38% chance that BTC will close above $70,000 by noon on Friday EST, down from a high of 90% earlier this week.
