Benzinga - by Aniket Verma, .
The cryptocurrency market edged lower Wednesday over fears of a potential sale of $240 million worth of Bitcoin by the U.S. government.
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded 8:30 p.m. EDT) |
| Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) | -1.66% | $60,804.09 |
| Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) | -0.91% | $3,363.53 |
| Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) | -3.36% | $0.1222 |
What Happened: Bitcoin trended downward, slipping below $61,000, following the modest bounce to $62,000 in previous trading sessions. The pullback followed the transfer of about 3,940 Bitcoin, valued at $240 million, by wallets linked to the U.S. government to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, also retreated from the advances made on Tuesday.
About $93.78 million in futures positions was wiped out in the last 24 hours, while as many as 34,986 traders were liquidated. Almost an equal amount of bullish and bearish bets were liquidated.
The correction triggered a 1,34% decline in Bitcoin's Open Interest to $32.12 billion, typically interpreted as a bullish signal.
About 54% of the traders in the market were bullish on Bitcoin's prospects, while 29% were bearish. Nearly 17% of the market had a neutral sentiment.
Top Gainer (24-Hours)
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded at 8:30 p.m. EDT) |
| Fetch.ai (FET) | +10.39% | $1.75 |
| Kaspa (KAS) | +10.20% | $0.1782 |
| SingularityNET (AGIX) | +7.91% | $0.7143 |
The global cryptocurrency market cap shrank 1.23% to $2.25 trillion in the last 24 hours.
Stocks recorded a second straight day of gains Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15.64 points, or 0.04%, to end at 39,127.80. The broader market index, S&P 500, closed 0.16% higher at 5,477.90. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite ended the trading session up 0.49% at 17,805.16.
Big Tech drove the rally, with Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) surging 3.9% and NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) advancing 0.30% during the day.
Investors will closely watch the forthcoming high-stakes presidential debate between incumbent Joe Biden and challenger Donald Trump Thursday for signals that could affect the markets.
See More: Best Cryptocurrency Scanners
Analyst Notes: Popular cryptocurrency trader Justin Benett pointed out Bitcoin's struggles in reclaiming the falling wedge pattern, interpreted as a bullish signal by technical analysts.
"If Bitcoin can’t reclaim $62,000 in the next 24-48 hours, we’re probably looking at a “fill” of those imbalances at $55,000 and $53,000," Bennett cautioned.
$BTC is struggling at the falling wedge I pointed out two days ago.If #Bitcoin can't reclaim $62k in the next 24-48 hours, we're probably looking at a "fill" of those imbalances at $55k and $53k. ⌛️ https://t.co/DFgx0xmuny pic.twitter.com/07Lbmg47wl
— Justin Bennett (@JustinBennettFX) June 26, 2024
On the other hand, widely-followed analyst Michaël van de Poppe forecasted a recovery for the altcoin market that has faced a lot of pain recently. Reason? Listing of spot Ethereum ETFs.
"We’ve seen a significant crash across the board, but that should be over with the Ethereum ETF coming in," the analyst remarked
You might not expect it, but the worst is likely in for the #Altcoin markets.We've seen a significant crash across the board, but that should be over with the Ethereum ETF coming in.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) June 26, 2024
Photo by Igor Faun on Shutterstock
Read Next: Here’s How Bitcoin And Altcoins Will Behave ‘Until Fed Cuts Rates,’ According To Veteran Crypto Analyst
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