Bitcoin teeters near $100,000, ether turns negative for the year amid crypto pullback

Ethereum’s native ETH token dipped below the $3,300 level on Tuesday, erasing its year-to-date gains, according to The Block’s price page. The token opened the year at $3,285 and is currently trading around that price, TradingView data shows.

The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization hit an all-time high of $4,946 in late August and has since fallen 31.2%. Bitcoin, meanwhile, is treading dangerously close to the psychological level of $100,000. Bitcoin opened the day at $106,557 and dipped as low as $100,050, according to MarketWatch.

ETH’s drop comes amid a marketwide pullback affecting nearly all tokens from majors to memecoins. Bitcoin is down 5.8% to around $100,050 at press time, while other large smart contract platforms BNB Chain and Solana are each down over 7.8% — in line with ether’s losses. 

The total market cap of all tokens tracked by CoinGecko is down 5.8% to $3.45 trillion. 

Earlier on Tuesday, bitcoin quickly dropped below $104,000, triggering at least $1.37 billion in leveraged liquidations. 

Analysts told The Block that traders are beginning to lose conviction, particularly following October's flash crash that led to the largest liquidation event in crypto history. Traders may also be pricing in Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s cooling expectations for a December cut.

The move comes amid a streak of ETF redemptions, with Bitcoin ETFs logging $187 million in net outflows and ETH ETFs losing $136 million on Monday, according to The Block's data dashboard.