The price of Bitcoin fell back to $91,000 on Tuesday afternoon as the leading cryptocurrency reversed course following some recent gains following Donald Trump’s election victory.
After exceeding $98,000 last week, the value of the cryptocurrency fell by more than 6% in the last 24 hours. The reversal has temporarily disappointed hopes of Bitcoin reaching the $100,000 mark this week.
And when Bitcoin sinks, other popular digital assets tend to follow suit. Over the past day, Ethereum – the second largest coin by market capitalization – is down 5%, to $3,300. Solana fell more than 9% and Elon Musk’s favorite Dogecoin lost almost 12% in value.
The broader crypto market fell 6.25% over the past day to a market cap of $3.16 trillion. Bitcoin is driving much of this, with a market value of around $1.8 trillion alone. This makes it the eighth largest asset in the world, ahead of money with a market capitalization of $1.7 trillion. Bitcoin is still well below gold, valued at $17 trillion.
Bitcoin has been on the rise since Trump, who positioned himself as the “crypto candidate,” won a second term in the White House earlier this month. Bitcoin has gained nearly 35% in value since the election.
The rise was accelerated by the beginnings of Options Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded funds) last week, which represented a pivotal moment in the cryptocurrency industry. These options bridge the gap between the decentralized world of digital assets and traditional finance by giving institutional investors a more familiar and regulated way to access Bitcoin. ETFs are expected to drive market adoption and liquidity.
Despite wider acceptance by more traditional investors, the crypto market remains volatile and can grow quickly, but decline just as quickly. This may help explain why the digital asset avoided the long-awaited $100,000 milestone after coming so close last week.
