Cryptocurrencies took another sharp leg lower on Monday, with the bounce from the Oct. 10 crash now having essentially fully reversed.
Already having slipped below $108,000 from above $110,000 overnight, bitcoin plunged to $105,500 in the early hours of the U.S. trading session, now lower by 4% over the past 24 hours and 8% over the past week.
Altcoins bore a bigger brunt. Ether plunged below $3,600, down 7% over the past 24 hours and 14% over the past week. Other major altcoins like solana , BNB , and tumbled 8%-10%.
The downturn in prices rippled across derivatives markets, liquidating over $1 billion in leveraged trading positions across all digital assets Monday, CoinGlass data shows.
Despite bitcoin trading around the $110,000 mark for several weeks now, showing little momentum in either direction, some analysts are sticking to bullish forecasts they made earlier in the year.
Tom Lee, co-founder and CIO of FundStrat Capital and chairman of Ethereum-focused treasury firm Bitmine, said on CNBC Monday morning that he believes bitcoin could still reach as high as $200,000 by year-end. Ethereum, he said, could reach the $7,000 mark before 2026.
His Bitmine Immersion (BMNR), the largest corporate holder of ETH, was down 7.5% amid the crypto sell-off.
“Right now fundamentals are leading prices in crypto,” continued Lee, “so eventually we consolidate and then we rally into year-end.”
Riding the continued AI boom — with a plethora of new multi-billion dollar deals announced Monday — stocks opened sharply higher, but were giving up gains by mid-morning, with the Nasdaq now ahead just 0.4% and the DJIA lower by 0.5%.
Shares of major crypto firms slid, led by Circle (CRCL), which fell 7%, and Gemini (GEMI), down 6%.
Coinbase (COIN) dropped 4%, while Marathon Digital (MARA) declined by the same amount. Strategy (MSTR) slipped 3%, along with trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) which reports third-quarter earnings this week.
