What happened to "Uptober" for Bitcoin? Despite being 10 days into October—a month famed by investors for rising crypto prices in the past—the price of the leading asset is struggling.
Bitcoin's price dropped below $60,000 per coin Thursday afternoon New York time, even briefly dipping below the $59,000 mark. It now stands at $59,810.
The asset is now well below its March all-time high of $73,737, CoinGecko data shows. Early this month, it appeared to fast be approaching $64,000 per coin after hanging above the $60,000 mark for the last three weeks.
Futures traders are hurting as a result of the latest dip: Over the past 24 hours, over $150 million in long positions have been liquidated across all cryptocurrencies, CoinGlass data shows. That figure refers to all coins and tokens in the space that traders had bet on going up in value at a future date.
Of all the futures positions, most were betting on Bitcoin: Some $63.2 million in bets on the asset have been closed.
Tensions in the Middle East between Iran, Lebanon, and Israel have led investors to eye-up more traditional safe-haven assets like gold, analysts told Decrypt last week. Bitcoin and other digital currencies are still seen by investors as having a "risk-on" status.
Also today, the latest U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report came in weaker than expected, plus the SEC continued its crypto crackdown by filing suit against trading firm Cumberland. The combination of factors could have a chilling effect on the price of Bitcoin and other top assets. Over the past two weeks, Bitcoin is now down by 8%.
Ethereum, the second-biggest coin, has barely budged past week and is now trading for $2,368.
The original smart contract cryptocurrency has struggled to surge following the May approval of spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as investors cash out of the Grayscale product. Ethereum's price has been impacted as a result.
And Solana, the fifth biggest coin, has been battered harder than both, dropping by nearly 2% in the past day. The Ethereum competitor is now priced at $137, having ticked up about 2% over the past 30 days.
Edited by Andrew Hayward