Bitcoin Falls Slightly a Day After Marking All-Time High

Bitcoin fell slightly in Asian hours on Thursday, a day after marking an all-time high on optimism around the launch of the first US Bitcoin futures ETF.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency was last down 1.3 percent at $65,184 (roughly Rs. 48.8 lakhs) after hitting a record $67,016 (roughly Rs. 50 lakhs) on Wednesday, but still above a previous peak of $64,895 (roughly Rs. 48.6 lakhs) seen in April.

“We think its going to go higher and we can get to 80 or 90,000 by the end of this year easy, but that won’t be without volatility,” said Matt Dibb, COO of Singapore-based Stack Funds.

In the past few days, he said, traders were starting to pay high rates to borrow to buy Bitcoin futures, “and that’s a sign that we could be a bit overextended, and there could be a pullback to come.” Bitcoin price in India stood at 49.9 lakhs as of 9:30am IST on October 21.

He added he anticipated traders would rotate out of Bitcoin and into major ‘Altcoins’ – other cryptocurrencies.

Ether, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, rose 1 percent to $4,203 (roughly Rs. 3.1 lakhs) and there were also sharper gains in smaller tokens. Ether price in India stood at Rs. 3.2 lakhs as of 10am IST on October 21.

Market players say the latest wave of buying has been supported by the launch of the first US Bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) with investors betting this will open a path to greater investment from both retail and institutional investors.

Existing Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and products have seen sharp inflows since September.

Average weekly flows to bitcoin funds totalled $121.1 million (roughly Rs. 910 crores) in October, up from $31.2 million (roughly Rs. 230 crores) a month earlier, data from London-based CryptoCompare shows.

The three months prior to September had seen outflows following steep losses for bitcoin in May and June.

© Thomson Reuters 2021