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Bitcoin falls to seven-month low, ether to four-month low

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Cryptocurrencies have lost $1.2 trillion in 6 weeks -

CoinGecko

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Cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds also lower

(Updates prices, adds quote in paragraph 13, US premarket moves

in 19)

By Rae Wee

SINGAPORE, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Bitcoin and ether slumped

to multi-month lows on Friday, with cryptocurrencies swept up in

a broader flight from riskier assets as investors worried about

lofty tech valuations and bets on near-term U.S. interest rate

cuts faded.

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, fell

5.5% to a seven-month low of $81,668. Ether slid more

than 6% to $2,661.37, its lowest in four months.

Both tokens are down roughly 12% so far this week.

Cryptocurrencies are often viewed as a barometer of risk

appetite and their slide highlights how fragile the mood in

markets has turned in recent days, with high-flying artificial

intelligence stocks tumbling and volatility spiking.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES LOSE $1.2 TRILLION IN SIX WEEKS

"If it's telling a story about risk sentiment as a whole,

then things could start to get really, really ugly, and that's

the concern now," Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG, said of

the fall in bitcoin.

About $1.2 trillion has been wiped off the market value of

all cryptocurrencies in the past six weeks, according to market

tracker CoinGecko.

Prices of Hong Kong-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded

funds launched by China AMC, Harvest and

Bosera fell close to 7% each on Friday.

FALL FROM GRACE

Bitcoin's slide follows a stellar run this year that

propelled it to a record high above $120,000 in October, buoyed

by favourable regulatory changes towards crypto assets globally.

But analysts say the market remains scarred by a record

single-day slump last month that saw more than $19 billion of

positions liquidated.

"The market feels a little bit dislocated, a bit fractured,

a bit broken, really, since we had that selloff," said Sycamore.

Bitcoin has since erased all its year-to-date gains and is

now down 12% for the year, while ether has lost close to 19%.

Citi analyst Alex Saunders said $80,000 would be an

important level as it is around the average level of bitcoin

holdings in ETFs.

The selloff has also hurt share prices of crypto

stockpilers, following a boom in public digital asset treasury

companies this year as corporates took advantage of rising

prices to buy and hold cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets.

Shares of Strategy, once the poster child for

corporate bitcoin accumulation, have fallen 11% this week and

were down nearly 4% in premarket trade, languishing at one-year

lows.

JP Morgan said in a note this week that the company could be

excluded from some MSCI equity indexes, which could spark forced

selling by funds that track them.

Its Japanese peer Metaplanet ( MTPLF ) has tumbled about 80%

from a June peak.

Crypto exchange Coinbase was down 1.9% in premarket

trade and is on course for its longest losing streak in more

than a month.

Crypto miners MARA Holdings ( MARA ) and CleanSpark ( CLSK )

were down 2.4% and 3.6%, respectively, while the Winklevoss

twins' newly-listed Gemini has plunged 62% from its

listing price.

"Bitcoin market conditions are the most bearish they have

been since the current bull cycle started in January 2023," said

digital asset research firm CryptoQuant in its weekly crypto

report on Wednesday.

"We are highly likely to have seen most of this cycle's

demand wave pass."