Major Coins Slide Amid Profit-Taking and ETF Outflows

Major cryptocurrencies slid during Asia trading hours on Tuesday amid ongoing profit-taking and another day of net outflows from U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Monday, which put pressure on bullish sentiment.

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to nearly $66,500, erasing all its gains from Monday, while ether (ETH) fell to $3,400, reversing all of last week’s gains. BTC has been hovering around the 50-day moving average at $66,000, testing the medium-term uptrend. Meanwhile, BTC ETFs saw net outflows of $145 million, continuing last week’s disappointing trend.

Other major tokens also experienced declines, with dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana’s SOL losing up to 9% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. Ton Network’s TON fell 5%, while BNB Chain’s BNB outperformed with a smaller loss of just 1.5%.

The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a broad index of the largest tokens excluding stablecoins, dropped 4.2%.

Last week, BTC fell below the $65,000 mark for the first time in a month as ETF net outflows surpassed $500 million and the Federal Reserve indicated only one interest rate cut in 2024.

“Other factors haven’t helped,” said Neil Roarty, an analyst at investment platform Stocklytics. “The political uncertainty triggered by Emmanuel Macron’s surprise decision to call a snap election in France further strengthened the dollar as traders exited the euro.”

“A strong dollar tends to put downward pressure on Bitcoin,” Roarty added, noting that significantly lower interest rates and a weaker dollar would be necessary to push BTC closer to the $70,000 mark.

Elsewhere, Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, warned of generally bearish sentiment as favorable ether ETF developments did little to boost ETH prices.

“Ethereum, on optimistic expectations about the ETF, was able to add over 6% after briefly dipping under its 50-day moving average on Friday. However, a loss of nearly 1.5% since the start of the day on Monday makes one wary of the near-term performance of altcoins,” Kuptsikevich said in a Tuesday email.

“The increased liquidity on weekdays will likely favor bears rather than bulls by increasing selling interest,” Kuptsikevich concluded.