U.S. bitcoin futures on Wednesday retreated below the $18,000 mark in their third full day of trading, while the spot price for the No.1 digital currency pulled back under $17,000.
Bitcoin futures expiring in January XBTF8, +1.44% settled at $17,055, down 5.4% from Tuesday’s settlement at $18,020, according to Cboe Global Markets Inc.
Spot prices for bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.44% were at $16,654 late Wednesday, representing a decline for the day of about 3%, according to CoinDesk data. The drop comes after the cryptocurrency rose to a fresh all-time high above $17,600 on Tuesday, by CoinDesk’s figures.
Exchange operator Cboe CBOE, -1.05% launched trading of bitcoin futures on Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, with a debut level for the January contract of $15,000. The contract is up 14% for the week.
Cboe rival CME Group Inc. CME, -0.93% is slated to kickoff trading of bitcoin futures on Monday.
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The price of one bitcoin has surged about 300% in the past three months, stretching its year-to-date advance to more than 1,600%.
“Clearly Bitcoin has been outperforming not just precious metals but basically every other financial asset recently,” said Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst at Forex.com, in a note.
“Equally, though, the parabolic-like rally makes bitcoin extremely risky for those late in the party.”
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