Bitcoin drops below $28K on profit taking; DOGE, TRX lead altcoin slump

Bitcoin (BTC) fell under the $28,000 level early Tuesday just hours after crossing it at the start of the week as profit-taking and changing on-chain metrics dampened a continuation of price rises.

BTC traded just over $27,600 in Asian afternoon hours on Tuesday. In the past 24 hours, Ether (ETH) dropped 3.5% amid a dismal first day of ETH futures ETF trading in the U.S. XRP and BNB Chain’s BNB slumped 2.7%, while dogecoin (DOGE) and Tron network’s TRX fell as much as 4%.

Rollbit’s RLB tokens jumped 8%, continuing a multi-day run amid increased token demand and platform revenues.

The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), a broad-based weighted index of hundreds of tokens, fell 3%, indicating profit-taking across the board.

Crypto markets rose Monday on ETF optimism that some traders hoped would bring renewed interest and capital to an otherwise tepid environment. Some even pointed to the historic seasonality of price surges in the month of October, aiming for a repeat of the unexplained coincidence.

But such an outlook always has the chance of falling flat, some argue.

“October is also typically a good month for the cryptocurrency market. Indeed, it is dubbed “uptober” by market insiders,” shared Lucas Kiely, chief investment officer of Yield App, in a message to CoinDesk. “Only twice since 2013 has bitcoin closed at a loss in October, and hopefully, this year will see a continuation of that trend.”

However, it is likely a little too early to get excited by these current price movements. This is unlikely to be the beginning of a significant rally without any other catalysts to drive it,” Keily cautioned, adding that the ongoing Sam Bankman-Fried trial “could take things either way” based on possible new information about crypto markets.

Elsewhere, Bitfinex markets analysts said in a weekly note that long-term investors were continuing to add to their holdings – boosting demand.

“On-chain activity for Bitcoin has hit record highs in terms of new addresses, but what stands out is that this activity predominantly involves short-term holder supply,” the analysts said. “This allows the supply held by long-term holders to continue reaching new peaks as short-term holders sell.”

“Volatility might also soon make a comeback in crypto, potentially towards the upside,” they opined.

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