Crypto prices are experiencing a rocky Monday due to poor U.S. macroeconomic data and rampant profit-taking.
Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped 1.8% in the past 24 hours to $91,800, a price not seen since Dec. 5, the day it broke through $100,000 for the first time. The largest cryptocurrency has fallen more than 14% from its Dec. 17 record of $108,278.
Ether (ETH) has lost less, falling 0.7% to $3,320, though it’s now 17% below its December highs, and still has not surpassed the record $4,820 it hit in 2021. Solana (SOL) is also proving a little stronger than bitcoin, with the SOL/BTC ratio up 0.35% today.
The CoinDesk 20 — an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, memecoins and exchange coins — is also in the red, sliding 3.74%. Ripple (XRP) and Stellar (XRM) have taken the biggest hits, down 6% and 6.3% respectively, while the most resilient coin besides ether has been litecoin (LTC), which is 1.9% lower.
Stocks of crypto-related companies also took a hit. MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) fell 7% and 5.3%, respectively and major bitcoin mining firms like MARA Holdings (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) have dropped more than 7%.
The selling pressure is partially caused by investors cashing out after bitcoin shot up more than 117% this year. Profit-taking currently exceeds $1.2 billion on a seven-day moving average, and while that is significantly less than the Dec. 11 peak of $4.0 billion, it’s still much more than usual. Additionally, the lion's share of profits is being taken by investors who have held bitcoin for many years.