Bitcoin consolidates near $86,000 as rally narrows and Brent slips below $100

Bitcoin is consolidating on Wednesday after an explosive breakout on Monday, trading at $86,379 in the European morning, up 0.24% since midnight UTC and 1.3% over 24 hours as daily trading volume dips by 36% to $38 billion.

Beneath the surface the rally has narrowed sharply, with 38 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents lower on the day, even as the index itself rose 0.67% to 1,926.99. Over the rolling 24 hours the picture is still broad, 87 higher and 13 lower, which places the weakening firmly in the past few hours rather than on Tuesday.

The majors have split rather than moved together, XRP (XRP) adding 3.3% to $1.62 and bitcoin cash 2.0% to $351.59, while ether slipped 0.089% to $2,750.24 as chainlink lost 0.0053%.