Bitcoin Trades Near $83,000, Giving Up Last Week's Gains

By Joseph WilkinsBitcoin continued its decline on Monday after renewed geopolitical concerns and expectations for further U.S. interest-rate rises dampened investor sentiment.The flagship cryptocurrency slid 2% in early London trading to $82,903, having hit a one-week low of $82,773 earlier in the session.President Trump rejected an Iranian proposal for a seven-day ceasefire last week, telling aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Fears of higher interest rates resulting from any renewed conflict continue to weigh on the non-yielding token, with Bitcoin retracing some of last week's gains that lifted it briefly above $87,000.Some analysts don't expect it to completely reverse those gains, however. "We would treat a retracement toward $80,000 as an accumulation opportunity rather than a failure of the breakout," said Colin Basco of Coinbase Institutional in a note.Despite the recent slip, Bitcoin has proved largely resilient in the wake of a significant spike in U.S. Treasury yields last week. The market now anticipates a 68% probability of a further 25-basis-point rate raise by the Federal Reserve in October.Write to Joseph Wilkins at [email protected]