Bitcoin Price Drops to $7,900 as SEC Denies Winklevoss ETF, Crypto Market Loses $11 Billion

The bitcoin price has dropped by nearly 4 percent almost immediately after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied the Winklevoss bitcoin ETF on July 27.

Bitcoin ETF as a Major Factor
A sudden drop in the price of BTC from $8,300 to $7,900 led other major digital assets and small market cap tokens to fall substantially in both value and volume. Consequently, the crypto market lost $11 billion in valuation overnight, primarily due to the short-term decline of BTC.

Apart from VeChain (VEN), which has demonstrated a 20 percent increase in value supported by strong momentum on July 26, the majority of major digital assets and tokens experienced a significant drop in price, in the range of 5 to 12 percent.

WanChain, Komodo, Stratis, Polymath, Aion, Stellar, and Basic Attention Token, which have performed well against bitcoin and the US dollar throughout the past five days, were the worst performers on Friday, losing nearly 12 percent of their value against the US dollar.

While the drop in the price of Stellar was expected given its 20 percent price surge on July 25 initiated by a strategic partnership it secured, the decline of BAT, POLY, and KMD was unexpected, given their strong performance throughout July.

Evidently, the price of BTC has fallen due to the rejection of the Winklevoss bitcoin ETF and in a logical sense, if investors initially believed that the price of BTC surged from $6,800 to $8,500 triggered by the increase in anticipation towards the approval of a bitcoin ETF, it makes sense for the price of BTC to drop even lower.

But, the Winklevoss bitcoin ETF is not the ETF the cryptocurrency market has been anticipating since mid-July. Rather, the market has been highly optimistic regarding the VanEck-SolidX bitcoin ETF and the Cboe ETF, considering that VanEck and Cboe are strictly regulated and well recognized financial institutions in the US.

Specifically, VanEck has the experience of filing, deploying, and overseeing hundreds of ETFs, and it has strategically partnered with SolidX to assist its bitcoin ETF in receiving the approval from the US SEC.

Generally, major investors have expressed their reluctance towards the approval of a bitcoin ETF by the end of 2018, and even with the VanEck-SolidX and Cboe ETFs, investors expect the SEC to delay its decision until early 2019.

Where Does Bitcoin go Next?
It is possible that the price of BTC dips below the $7,700 mark and test the $7,600 resistance level in the next short-term movement. If it remains stable in the $7,700 region, a recovery back to the $8,000 region is a likely scenario but if BTC moves below the $7,700 mark relatively quickly, a drop to the mid-$7,000 region can be expected.

The reaction of the market towards the disapproval of the Winklevoss bitcoin ETF was exaggerated and was intensified by panicking investors who initiated a large sell-off within a 30-minute period.