Bitcoin prices headed lower Monday afternoon, giving up some hard-fought gains from over the weekend that saw the No. 1 digital currency trading to its highest level in two months.
In most recent action on Monday, one bitcoin BTCUSD, +1.01% was last fetching $3,795.25, unchanged since Sunday’s level at 5 p.m. Eastern time on the Kraken exchange. The cryptocurrency is 10% off Saturday’s high of $4,217.48.
On Saturday, the best-known cryptocurrency topped $4,200 for the first time since Dec. 24, but a violent selloff the following day saw it plummet more than 10%, trading back below $3,800 in less than an hour.
Read: The last time traders were this bullish on Ether it suffered a 40% tumble
What are analysts saying
“The reality is there is nothing abnormal about huge moves in the crypto market over the weekend, mainly because of thinner volume and bigger order sizes,” wrote Naeem Aslam, chief markets analyst at Think Markets U.K.
“The bottom line for me is that the current selloff would [likely be] an opportunity only if the previous lows are not violated…[but] if we break the previous lows, it will very much confirm that the recent jump in the cyrpto market was a bull trap.”
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Altcoins and futures
The weekend chaos wasn’t limited to bitcoin. Altcoins — or digital currencies other than bitcoin — endured even wider trading ranges. Ether, ETHUSD, -1.94% the second-largest digital currency, fell more than 20% from its weekend high above $166.
On Monday, most altcoins were clawing back some losses from the weekend. Ether was changing hands at $138.63, down 0.2% since Sunday at 5 p.m. Elsewhere, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, +2.44% is up 4.4% at $136,70, Litecoin LTCUSD, +1.07% LTCUSD, +1.07% rose 3.4% to $46.19 and XRP, XRPUSD, +7.46% is trading at 31 cents, up 4.2% on the day.
Bitcoin futures are trading lower on Monday. The Cboe Global Markets March contract XBTJ9, -3.30% is off 3.4% at $3,805 and the CME Group March contract BTCH9, -2.93% is down 3.2% to $3,805.
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