Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Experience Volatile Trading Ahead of Potential ETF Approval

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies faced a downward trend on Thursday, with unpredictable trading expected to persist leading up to the potential approval of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) associated with Bitcoin spot trading.

In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin has undergone a decline of 5.1%, reaching $43,007. Despite surpassing $45,000 earlier this week, the largest cryptocurrency experienced a drop, reaching as low as $41,361 on Wednesday.

The significant decrease was largely influenced by Matrixport, a crypto financial-services platform, which predicted on Wednesday that all spot Bitcoin ETF applications would be rejected by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January.

By January 10, the SEC will decide on whether to approve the spot Bitcoin ETF application submitted by ARK Invest and 21Shares. Although last-minute uncertainties surrounding the ETF approval impacted Bitcoin's rally, the cryptocurrency still demonstrates a 56% increase over the past three months, indicating that the market remains optimistic about the SEC granting approval for the funds.

Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group, commented, "This price movement is likely to be short term, and observers, experts, and the markets clearly expect that an approval for a Bitcoin ETF in the US is a matter of when, not if."

In addition to Bitcoin, Ethereum—the second-largest cryptocurrency—experienced a decline of 6.2%, reaching $2,228. Among smaller cryptocurrencies, Solana fell by 9.1% and Cardano dropped by 8.6%. Furthermore, Dogecoin witnessed a decrease of 9.5%.