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Bitcoin’s longest losing streak of 2024 casts a cloud over cryptocurrencies
(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin is plunging as part of a $500 billion slump in digital assets, fueling doubts about whether the cryptocurrency rebound has peaked.
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The token is experiencing five consecutive days of decline, which would be its longest losing streak since October last year. According to data compiled by CoinGecko and Bloomberg News, the overall cryptocurrency market slumped 17% to $2.4 trillion in the wake of Bitcoin’s mid-March record high of $73,798.
Weak inflows into Bitcoin spot ETFs and the prospect of longer-term higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve are together subduing digital assets. Last week’s debut of Hong Kong cryptocurrency ETFs failed to brighten the mood.
The influx of liquidity into US funds after the January launch had already pushed Bitcoin to its all-time high. Overall net inflows for the group now stand at $11.8 billion, following an outflow of $169 million so far this month.
Many speculators who were betting on continued strong flows into ETFs are now being “pushed out of the market,” said Benjamin Celermajer, director of digital asset investment manager Magnet Capital. But he added that the bull market is not over and that Bitcoin will reach new highs by the end of 2024.
In the derivatives market, there are signs that investors expect fewer big swings in Bitcoin than the volatility that overshadowed the launch of US ETFs.
The T3 Bitcoin Volatility Index, which uses options prices to give a sense of expected 30-day swings in the token, and the equivalent indicator for the second-ranked digital asset, Ether, are both at around two-month lows .
As of 7:05 a.m. in New York on Thursday, Bitcoin was down about 1.4% at $60,730, while Ether was little changed at around $3,000.
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