Bitcoin News Today: Bitcoin Drops 4% After Reaching All-Time High of $123,091

Bitcoin (BTC) has experienced a slight decline over the past 24 hours, trading around $118,000. This comes after a significant rally that saw its price surge past $123,000, settling at an all-time high of $123,091 before losing momentum due to selling pressure from traders locking in profits. Analysts remain optimistic, suggesting that the current dip is merely a breather and that another bull run could be on the horizon before the end of the month.

Bitcoin's dominance in the market has decreased as other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP), have seen a sharp rise in their market share. However, it is uncertain whether this decline will translate into a sustained increase for altcoins. Adrian Fritz, head of research at a Switzerland-based asset manager, noted that while altcoins are surging, a trend reversal is needed for an "altcoin season" to begin. Bitcoin's dominance stood at $2.3 trillion or 61% of the total market, while Ethereum's dominance jumped 23% and XRP's dominance rose 23%, hitting a record high.

Previous market cycles have shown that altcoins tend to surge after Bitcoin's price has peaked, indicating that traders may be pivoting to other assets as the bull market continues. However, the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs has allowed more investors access to the flagship cryptocurrency, potentially altering market dynamics. Fritz added that it is hard to imagine Bitcoin's dominance dropping to levels seen in previous bull markets, as the spotlight has been on Bitcoin over the last year.

A Satoshi-era whale who transferred 40,912 Bitcoin to Galaxy Digital could be on the verge of securing unprecedented profits after over a decade of holding the asset. The whale made an initial transfer of 40,009 Bitcoin before transferring the remaining, worth nearly $5 billion. Blockchain on-chain data service Onchain Lens was the first to notice the transfer. The latest transfer means the whale has moved all his Bitcoin holdings, worth $9.6 billion, to Galaxy Digital. The whale has already transferred 6,000 Bitcoin to Binance and Bybit, according to blockchain intelligence platform Nansen.

Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer at Komodo Platforms, stated that no one could be sure what the whale’s motivations are for moving his holdings. Stadelmann speculated that the whale may have decided it was a good time to secure “jaw-dropping profits.” Stadelmann also suggested that the whale could have mixed feelings about liquidating their holdings after Bitcoin’s increasing institutional adoption.

Bitcoin (BTC) has struggled to reclaim the $120,000 mark, facing repeated rejections since losing the level after Monday’s rally. Analysts believe BTC could enter a brief consolidation phase after recent record highs. However, they have not ruled out another rally before the end of the month. Michael Harvey, head of franchise trading at Galaxy Digital, stated that consolidation around current prices is his base case given the large rally and new all-time high. He expects BTC to trend higher into the year-end but believes pausing here for air would be realistic. Harvey also noted that if bulls lose momentum and bearish sentiment takes over, BTC could drop back below $110,000.

BTC started the previous week in the red, dropping 0.88% to $108,273. It recovered on Tuesday, rising 0.62% to $108,942. Buyers retained control on Wednesday as the price rose 2.12% to cross $111,000 and settle at $111,255. Bullish sentiment intensified on Thursday as BTC rallied, increasing 3.51% to cross $115,000 and settle at $115,134. The price continued pushing higher on Friday, rising 1.50% and settling at $116,885. Despite the positive sentiment, BTC lost momentum on Saturday, registering a marginal decline and settling at $116,616. The price recovered on Sunday, rising nearly 2% to cross $118,000 and settle at $118,624.

BTC surged past $123,000 on Monday, reaching a new all-time high of $123,091. However, it could not maintain this level and settled at $119,714, ultimately registering an increase of 0.92%. The price fell to an intraday low of $115,701 on Tuesday as selling pressure intensified. However, it recovered from this level and settled at $117,682, a drop of nearly 2%. BTC rose 0.82% on Wednesday and settled at $118,641. The price reached an intraday high of $120,812 on Thursday. However, it could not stay at this level and settled at $119,101. BTC faced volatility and selling pressure on Friday, resulting in a 1.03% drop to $117,877. The current session sees BTC marginally up as buyers and sellers struggle to establish control.