Share this article
Bitcoin Under $39K as ETF Debut Continues to Be a ‘Sell-the-News’ Event
BTC was down nearly 5% in the past 24 hours, reaching its lowest level in two months. The CoinDesk 20, a liquid index of the highest tokens by market capitalization, fell 7%.
Updated Mar 8, 2024, 8:20 p.m. Published Jan 23, 2024, 10:42 a.m.
Bitcoin [BTC] slumped under $39,000 during Tuesday’s European trading hours, reversing nearly all of the past two months’ gains carved out in anticipation of spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approvals in the U.S.
BTC fell nearly 5% in the past 24 hours, reaching its lowest level in two months. The CoinDesk 20, a liquid index of the highest tokens by market capitalization, fell 7%.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The cryptocurrency pulled back to as low as $38,700 before recovering slightly. The token had recently hit a two-year high of over $49,000 as spot bitcoin ETFs began trading in the U.S. on Jan. 11.
Part of the recent selling pressure on bitcoin has been traced back to sales from the FTX bankruptcy estate, which has dumped some 22 million shares of Grayscale’s GBTC in the past few weeks, as CoinDesk reported. On-chain analysis firm CryptoQuant was among the few contrarian bets that speculated that the ETF approval would be a sell-the-news event.
“Sell the news” is a well-known term in capital markets and describes how asset prices, leverage and sentiment push prices higher in the lead-up to a bullish event, only for prices to tumble shortly after.
The approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. was much anticipated and well priced, and the event is “likely to be a short- to mid-term top for the price,” analysts at Japan-based crypto exchange bitBank told CoinDesk in an email.
Earlier this month, analysts at 10X Research, led by Markus Thielen, said they expected bitcoin to fall to at least $38,000 in the near team, citing technical analysis. CryptoQuant’s target remains much lower at $32,000.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
WhiteFiber signs 10-year, 40 MW colocation deal with Nscale valued at about $865 million
The firm's Enovum unit will deliver 40 megawatts of critical IT load in two phases at a campus in Madison, North Carolina, under a 10-year agreement.
알아야 할 것:
- WhiteFiber says the Nscale deal anchors the first 40 megawatts at its NC-1 AI data center campus.
- The company estimates total contract value at about $865 million over 10 years.
Top Stories
