The world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, slipped below $60,000 on Tuesday, taking losses from a record high of $69,000 struck on Nov. 10 to more than 12%.
Cryptos aren’t enjoying a good start to the week as we see a further retreat in prices from the recent highs. Of note, Bitcoin fell by over 8% to under $60,000 at the lows (the low today hit $58,644) before sticking around $59,500 to $59,800 at the moment.
The $60,000 mark will be one to watch going into the daily close as it holds psychological importance, but the 27-28 October lows around $58,000 will also be regarded as key technical support at the moment on the charts.
Bitcoin was down 5% at $60,391.3 at 1253 GMT, after earlier falling as much as $58,563, its lowest since Oct. 28, while Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market value, was down 6.8% at $4,253.08.
Cryptocurrency analysts could not identify any particular news driving the falls, which they said seemed to be driven by profit-taking after a recent sharp run-up.
Bitcoin has more than doubled in value since June, driven by the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies and the launch in the United States of futures-based bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
And on Sunday, it went through a major upgrade, called Taproot, that enables its blockchain to execute more complex transactions, potentially widening the virtual currency’s use cases and making it a little more competitive with ethereum for processing smart contracts.
“The fall below 60,000, puts (Bitcoin) below the 62,000 support level, slightly into the ‘short term’ bearish zone,” said Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs in New York.
