Bitcoin (BTC) price falls as post-election rally loses steam

The price of bitcoin retreated further from the psychologically important $100,000 milestone as investors booked profits from the cryptocurrency’s gains following the US election.

The largest cryptocurrency by market cap was last down more than 4% at $90,999.30, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it fell as low as $90,702.27. The CoinDesk 20, an index that measures the performance of the broader crypto market, fell 4.78%.

Coin base and Micro strategy fell by 6% and 12% respectively.

“Bitcoin has been rumbling since Election Day … with very few pullbacks, but the $100,000 mark remains a formidable psychological barrier,” Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics, told CNBC via email. “While it would be a big bullish signal to break through now, a short pullback may be needed to gather momentum before the next attempt.”

With bitcoin regularly breaking new records this month, long-term holders have been selling in the spot market in increasing volumes. That selling pressure has so far been absorbed by inflows into bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which ended a five-day streak Monday and logged $438 million in outflows and large purchases of MicroStrategy. CryptoQuant typically defines long-term holders as entities that have held bitcoin for 155 days or more.

Traders took profits after bitcoin’s post-election rally, which has been fueled by optimism over President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-crypto political platform.

“Historically, when new all-time highs are reached, there is typically a period of consolidation before further moves up,” Brett Reeves of crypto infrastructure firm BitGo told CNBC. “We know new institutional money is coming into the space and retail activity is picking up, both via ETFs and exchanges. With positive macro and regulatory news ahead, we could see a quick pick-up in price activity.”

Bitcoin is up more than 30% since the US election and is up 114% this year.