Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin Hits New All-Time High of $108,000 Before Pulling Back; Altcoins Mostly in Red

The overall crypto market witnessed price correction across most cryptocurrencies over the last 24 hours. Bitcoin on Wednesday, December 18 registered a loss of 2.60 percent to trade at $103,740 (roughly Rs. 88 lakh) on foreign exchanges. Earlier in the day, Bitcoin had surged to a new all-time high of over $108,200 (roughly Rs. 91.8 lakh) before retreating to its current level. The price correction impacted Bitcoin on Indian platforms as well, such as CoinDCX and CoinSwitch, where it was trading at $103,701 (roughly Rs. 88.6 lakh) at the time of writing.

“Bitcoin recently surged to $108,260 (roughly Rs. 91.9 lakh) on Tuesday, representing an increasingly strong institutional interest. The market's strong fundamentals include persistent demand from spot Bitcoin ETFs and tight supply,” Avinash Shekhar, Co-Founder and CEO, Pi42 told Gadgets360. “The most important thing for Bitcoin now is to hold above $102,000 (roughly Rs. 86.6 lakh) support, since a break below could set off a liquidity crunch and holding above could signal more upside.”

Ether saw a price drop of 4.25 percent over the last day on global exchanges. At present, ETH is trading at $3,841 (roughly Rs. 3.26 lakh) on foreign exchanges, showed CoinMarketCap. As per Indian exchanges, ETH value dropped by 4.88 percent bringing its price to $3,839 (roughly Rs. 3.26 lakh).

“Ethereum is in the consolidation phase right now but can mimic the rally of Bitcoin as the investors sentiments are bullish for Ethereum, as short positions are being liquidated all over the board. Ethereum gets a boost from its history of lagging and then catching up to Bitcoin's momentum,” Shekhar added.

As shown by the crypto price tracker by Gadgets 360 – most altcoins are trading in the reds indicating losses on Wednesday.

Tether, Binance Coin, Dogecoin, Cardano, Tron, Avalanche, and Chainlink saw losses.

Shiba Inu, Polkadot, Bitcoin Cash, Near Protocol, and Cronos also registered price dips on Wednesday.

The overall valuation of the crypto sector tumbled by 2.77 percent in the last 24 hours. The present market cap of the sector has reached $3.62 trillion (roughly Rs. 3,07,42,307 crore), showed CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin's dominance on the market stands at 56.65 percent.

Market experts anticipate a more favorable regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies in the near future.

“The crypto market has shown encouraging signs as US lawmakers have pledged to advance digital asset legislation, a long-awaited move for the sector. Key members, including the new Senate Banking Chair, have referred to crypto as the ‘next wonder' of the world, signaling a strong commitment to regulatory clarity. This positive momentum reflects growing institutional interest and a favorable political environment for cryptocurrencies,” Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin told Gadgets 360.

Meanwhile Ripple, Solana, Stellar, Uniswap, Litecoin, and Iota recorded minor profits on Wednesday.

Industry insiders have said that investors should remain cautious but optimistic about navigating their way out of macroeconomic uncertainties in the coming days.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.