Bitcoin Plunges Below $42K Following Initial Trading of ETFs

By: Eliza Bennet

Following the debut of Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on U.S. markets, Bitcoin's price took a significant hit, plunging to a low of $41,730, resulting in a 24-hour loss of approximately 9%. Remarking the lowest prices since January 3, the introduction of ETFs seems to have triggered a 'sell the news' event, driving the price down substantially despite high volume trading.

While the price did recover partially, the overall crypto market was down 5.3% at the end of trading on Friday. Various other cryptos, including Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), Cardano, XRP, Ethereum (ETH) and BNB also reported losses.

Contributing factors to this decline are believed to be sales stemming from Grayscale’s GBTC fund, negative developments that affected overall investor sentiment within the crypto community and significant sell orders detected by market analysts. Some have suggested that market participants are using the ETF news to offload their Bitcoin holdings, indicating that the seller is not yet finished.

Despite this downward pressure, the bullish structure for Bitcoin remains intact. The impact of ETFs is expected to unfold over the long term, with the immediate repercussions likely not being the final assessment of the effects of ETF integration on the Bitcoin market.