Share this article

Bitcoin Falls Below $40K for First Time in 2 Weeks

Bitcoin's notorious volatility has upended what had been shaping up as a strong month for returns.

Updated May 11, 2023, 6:08 p.m. Published Feb 18, 2022, 3:03 p.m.
Bitcoin continues to trend downward as tensions between Russia and Europe escalate. (TradingView)
Bitcoin continues to trend downward as tensions between Russia and Europe escalate. (TradingView)

Bitcoin fell below $40,000 for the first time in two weeks, putting a damper on recent hopes among some digital-asset traders that the cryptocurrency might be poised to rally.

The price had already tumbled 7.3% on Thursday, the steepest losses in four weeks as the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its worst day of 2022. A modest decline this morning pushed bitcoin down to as low as $39,700. The price quickly rebounded to $40,700 but has since fallen below the $40,000 mark again.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Analysts cited the continuing conflict over Ukraine as weighing on sentiment, while traders in traditional markets are reckoning with the likelihood of aggressive Federal Reserve actions this year to tighten monetary conditions and tamp down inflation.

jwp-player-placeholder

"Bitcoin has clearly lost its function as a defensive asset lately, showing almost no correlation with gold, which was in high demand on Wednesday and Thursday," Alex Kuptsikevich, senior financial analyst at FxPro, said in an email to CoinDesk Thursday.

In traditional markets, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq was down 1.3% and the Dow fell about 0.5% after starting the day flat.

UPDATE (Feb. 18 16:18 UTC): Updated with latest price action.


More For You

Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture

Pudgy Title Image

Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.

What to know:

Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.

The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.

More For You

Bitcoin climbs above $89,000 as U.S. dollar tumbles on President Trump's remarks

Donald Trump points at the audience during a press conference at the White House.

The president said he isn't concerned about the dollar's recent declines, sending the greenback plunging even lower.

What to know:

  • Bitcoin rallied above $89,000 as remarks by President Trump sent the dollar to its lowest level in nearly four years.
  • Gold rose to a new record above $5,200 per ounce following the president's comments.
  • One analyst is seeing a bullish technical divergence which could send bitcoin back to $95,000 in short order.