Bitcoin shed more than 3% of its value Monday amid persistent fears FTX could offload hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto following possible court approval this week.
The asset briefly dipped to just under $25,000 in early-afternoon US trade before clawing back some losses to stand a little over that figure, Blockworks data shows.
FTX has asked the court for the right to liquidate billions of dollars in crypto with a $100 million weekly cap and the possibility of increasing that limit to $200 million.
As of the end of last month, the exchange held a total of $3.4 billion in digital assets including $560 million in bitcoin (BTC), $192 million in ether (ETH) and $1.6 billion in Solana’s native token (SOL), among others. SOL was down 4.2% to $17.63 while ETH fell 4.6% to $1,542, data shows.
The developments come as traditional markets have experienced turbulence this week. The US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback’s performance relative to a basket of foreign currencies, dipped 0.5% Monday in anticipation of upcoming inflation figures.
After eight consecutive weeks of higher highs, the DXY is now flashing signs of a short-term pullback.
Economists are forecasting the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note — currently at levels not seen in 16 years — will experience a notable decrease in the coming months and further into 2024.
A fall in the yield could signify several potential market conditions, including a shift towards a more risk-averse environment.
According to market-watchers, activity on Monday has less to do with broader factors and more to do with internal trader jitters, fearful of future sell-offs.
“I think the market is focused on the FTX bankruptcy liquidation process, as well as BTC recently trading heavily below the 200-day moving average,” Rich Rosenblum, co-founder and president of GSR, told Blockworks.
Sam Callahan, an analyst at Swan Bitcoin, said traders could be front-running reports that FTX may palm off its digital assets and real estate holdings.
“Bitcoin’s recent price action could have less to do with macroeconomics conditions and more about the market pricing in endogenous factors such as FTX potentially obtaining court approval to liquidate over $250 million worth of BTC on Sept. 13.”
“This recent price action could be the market digesting this news,” Callahan added.
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