Bitcoin declines from record highs

Bitcoin slipped more than 3%, falling below the $118,000 level, after surpassing the $123,000 mark for the first time in history the day before. The sharp fall came amid profit taking by investors who had earlier entered the market anticipating progress in regulating the crypto industry in the US. Investor optimism was associated with the possibility of promoting legislative initiatives supporting digital assets under the administration of Donald Trump.

The decline affected not only bitcoin, but also other popular cryptocurrencies: Ether, XRP, and Solana also lost in price from 1.4% to 2%. According to Stefan von Haenisch, director of OTC trading at Bitgo Inc., such a pullback is a natural market reaction after a period of sharp growth. As he notes, the next important support level for bitcoin could be the $114,000 mark.

This decline became the first significant one over the past few weeks after a prolonged uptrend in the crypto market. Earlier, the growth was supported by positive sentiment on stock markets and improved assessments of the macroeconomic situation, caused by the weakening of fears about the consequences of US trade policy.