Bitcoin falls 2% to $118,400 as crypto market cap slips to $3.94trn
Bitcoin lost ground in early Tuesday trading, slipping 2 per cent over the past 24 hours to $118,400, as profit-taking and mixed market sentiment halted its push toward a new all-time high.
Despite the daily decline, the world’s largest cryptocurrency remains up 3.19 per cent over the past week, according to data from coinmarketcap.com.
Ethereum held firm around $4,300, gaining 16 per cent in seven days, while several major altcoins posted double-digit daily losses. Institutional interest in Ether surged, with nine U.S.-listed spot Ether ETFs recording a record $1.02 billion in inflows on Monday, equivalent to roughly 240,000 ETH.
The inflows marked the fifth straight day of gains, totalling $1.8 billion, and pushed total net inflows since their 2024 launch to $10.8 billion.
Bitcoin’s rally briefly took it above $122,000 on August 11, lifting its market capitalisation close to $2.5 trillion before the price slipped back below $118,500. The retreat comes ahead of U.S. July inflation data, a key gauge for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision in September.
Investors expect a sharper rise in core goods prices compared with June, with risk sentiment improving after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on higher tariffs against China.
Institutional appetite remained strong, with Strategy announcing the purchase of an additional 155 BTC for about $18 million at an average price of $116,401 per coin. Still, retail profit-taking and macroeconomic uncertainty weighed on prices, pushing the total global cryptocurrency market capitalisation down 1.2 per cent to $3.94 trillion at the time of writing.
