Bitcoin price today: pinned at $102k as valuation concerns bring deep weekly loss

Investing.com-- Bitcoin fell on Friday and was headed for a steep weekly drop as fragile risk appetite, amid a rout in global technology stocks, kept investors largely averse towards cryptocurrencies. 

The world’s largest crypto was headed for a second straight week of declines, and was also trading down for four of the past five weeks, as crypto markets struggled to recover from a dismal performance in October. 

Bitcoin fell 0.8% to $102,294.3 by 00:23 ET (05:23 GMT). The world’s largest crypto slumped into a bear market this week, falling over 20% from an early-October record high. 

Bitcoin heads for weekly losses amid broader risk aversion

Bitcoin was trading down nearly 8% this week, and was also trading red for a second consecutive week. 

This came as selling in broader risk-driven markets, especially equities, spilled over into crypto. Concerns over stretched valuations in the technology sector sparked a wave of selling in equity markets this week, which in turn spilled over into other sectors. 

Economic uncertainty also weighed, as an ongoing U.S. government shutdown disrupted vast swathes of the world’s biggest economy and delayed the release of several key data points. 

Private employment data released on Thursday showed a sharp increase in U.S. layoffs in October, which fueled bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again when it meets in December. 

Trump wants US to become ‘Bitcoin superpower’

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he wants the country to further embrace Bitcoin and crypto technology, calling for U.S. leadership in the field. 

He touted his administration’s passing of several crypto-friendly legislations, and claimed that the U.S. had ended its regulatory war against crypto. 

“We’re making the United States the Bitcoin superpower, the crypto capital of the world,” Trump said, while also calling for further leadership over China. 

Trump’s administration doled out several crypto-friendly measures this year, including the creation of a national crypto stockpile and the establishment of a regulatory framework for stablecoins. 

But he stopped short of announcing government purchases of digital assets.

Crypto price today: altcoins dither, head for weekly declines 

Broader crypto prices moved in a flat-to-low range on Friday, and were also nursing weekly losses amid a broader risk-off move. 

World no.2 crypto Ether fell 0.9% to $3,357, and was trading down over 13% this week. Ether had slumped to its lowest level since mid-July earlier this week. 

XRP fell 4.1% and was down nearly 11% this week, while BNB rose 1.9% and was down nearly 12% this week. 

Solana fell 0.8%, while Cardano rose 2% on Friday.

Among meme tokens, Dogecoin rose 1.5%, while $TRUMP was down 5.5%.