Healthy Correction? Bitcoin Prices Retreat to $1,700

Bitcoin prices suffered what analysts largely called a correction today, falling nearly $100 to a low of roughly $1,650, almost 7% below the opening price.

The price of bitcoin suffered this fallback after nearly doubling in less than two months, according to data from the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). Amid the strong interest from investors, bitcoin prices reached an all-time high of $1,848.75 on 11th May, but since then, they've fallen more than 10%.

In response, several analysts weighed in on this decline, though most said it was to be expected given the recent run of gains.

"The price is pulling back after spectacular rises," said Charles Hayter, co-founder and CEO of exchange information service CryptoCompare. "A correction is in play."

While bitcoin's price has retreated somewhat, more than one analyst described this as simply being a "healthy" correction.

"Prices can't keep going up and not correct," said Harry Yeh, managing partner of Binary Financial. Petar Zivkovski, COO of Whaleclub, offered similar sentiment, calling the activity a "healthy correction" in response to an upswell of recent hype.

However, Zivkovski added that cryptocurrencies could face further declines.

"If it does, more downside is to be expected as traders rush to take profit on long positions they've held since the start of the bull run," he commented.

Other analysts stated that the recent pullback in bitcoin prices was nothing out of the ordinary. Tim Enneking, chairman of Crypto Asset Management, described it as "standard behavior" after the huge gains seen lately.

Jacob Eliosoff, a cryptocurrency fund manager, provided similar input.

"It's like asking why it's raining when it's been dry for weeks. It's a small pullback, going up nonstop for weeks just wouldn't be natural," he said.

Eliosoff projected that real alarm prices would be in the $1,200 to $1,000 range, concluding that unless we have a "real drop" like that, no explanation is required.

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