Bitcoin Slips Toward $82,600 Amid Crypto Price Decline
Crypto prices dropped for a second consecutive day on Thursday, with Bitcoin falling to $83,400 at about 08:50 UTC. XRP lost 7.2% over 24 hours.
No specific event drove the decline, but analysts point to it as a pullback after Monday's rally took Bitcoin to its highest daily close since January. The drop arrives just before Friday's quarterly options expiry on Deribit.
London-based analyst Paul Howard predicted this path earlier in the week, saying that a break below $85,000 could send the market reeling towards $81,000 to $82,000. However, a daily close above $82,614 would keep the scenario for Bitcoin's move toward $98,068 to $99,486 alive.
Ethereum broke above $2,757 on Monday but fell short of reclaiming it as support at $2,616 holds. If Ethereum reclaims this level on a closing basis, analysts project a target of $3,499, about 31% above the current price.