Bitcoin Price Tops $73,000 Ahead of Halving, But Then Plunges

Bitcoin continues to push to previously unseen price levels, rising above $73,000 for the first time ever on Tuesday. But as with other recent peaks, the price dipped quickly thereafter.

According to data from crypto exchange Coinbase, the price of Bitcoin popped as high as $73,027 on Tuesday morning, beating the platform’s previous high of $72,702 on Monday. Last week, Bitcoin beat its previous all-time high when the price of BTC surged above $69,000 on Tuesday.

Bitcoin is dipping again, falling quickly after setting that new peak above $73,000 and then dropping even lower to $68,603, according to Coinbase. It’s volatility is its only constant, however as it's climbed back up to $71,102 as of this writing.

We’ve seen this happen a few times over the last week: Bitcoin pops to a new high, the price quickly dips as some holders apparently sell at the peak price, and then it corrects. The cycle potentially repeats again a couple of days later.

Even after the dip, Bitcoin is up 47% over the last 30 days, per data from CoinGecko. Bitcoin hype has been fueled in part by demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs, which were approved in January and let people buy and sell shares like a stock. It’s a way for investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without holding it, and the funds have been buying up billions in BTC as a result.

Bitcoin’s latest price discovery action has also come ahead of next month’s halving event, which happens approximately every four years and cuts the amount of BTC rewards for miners in half. That slows the growth of Bitcoin’s circulating supply and means less BTC is coming onto the market, which could benefit the price.

Amid the Bitcoin bounces, liquidations of crypto positions hit $356 million over the last 24 hours per data from CoinGlass. Just over $100 million of that came from Bitcoin positions alone.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.