Bitcoin (BTC) ended the week at around $41,400, down 5.5% from the previous week’s close of around $43,800. The price experienced a notable decline on Monday, reaching a weekly low of around $40,225, before making a strong recovery and surpassing the $43,000 threshold on Wednesday and Thursday. Negative price action over the weekend pushed the closing price to around $41,400, and the downward trend continued until Monday the 18th as BTC fell below the $41,000 trading level.
Last week marked the first weekly price decline after eight consecutive weeks of price gains, indicating expected market movements aimed at reducing market leverage. Approximately $345 million worth of long and short positions were liquidated during the week, with the majority of liquidations affecting long positions, totaling $235 million. However, the strong price upward trend witnessed at various points during the week led to the liquidation of approximately $110 million in short positions.
High volatility is a typical result of periods of significant uptrends and downtrends, triggering a series of liquidations that reduce market leverage and contribute to a more sustainable price action and market environment. Traders often use moments of heightened volatility to secure liquidity and rebalance positions.
Bitcoin dominance, which measures market capitalization relative to the overall digital asset market, decreased to 53.11% from 53.46% the previous week, indicating the altcoin’s strong resilience compared to major digital assets during the recent downturn. This signals active investor participation, as this pattern typically occurs when investors quickly allocate capital to various altcoins in search of short-term profitability.
An analysis of the daily trading volume of centralized exchanges measured over a seven-day period from November 11 to 17 showed that daily trading volume exceeded $36 billion. This represents the highest level recorded since March 2023, confirming strong trading activity contributing to increased volatility.
Looking at the ETF topic, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) discount and Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) maintain stable discounts of 9.9% and 13.7%, respectively. This highlights investors’ unwavering confidence in the possibility of ETF spot approval and the Grayscale Trust’s subsequent ETF conversion.
The final deadline for the SEC decision on the 21Shares BTC spot filing is scheduled for January 10th, with the comment window closing on January 5th. The six-day period from January 5 to 10 is when the SEC is expected to provide a final approval or rejection of the 21Shares filing, which will coincide with a series of approvals or rejections of other BTC filings. Analysts continue to predict a 90% chance of receiving approval from the SEC.