Bitcoin eases off record highs, remains above $4000

Bitcoin extended its bullish rally on Thursday with the BTC/USD pair refreshing its record high at $4490 before starting a corrective retreat. As of writing, the pair was trading at $4287, losing 1.6% on the day.

The pair's pullback seems to be a product of profit taking as no apparent fundamental catalysts were present behind that move. Despite today's drop, bitcoin was able to add more than $1000 in the last 10 days. According to the latest available data on coinmarketcap.com, bitcoin's market cap increased to $71,101,132,382.

The digital currencies' increasing popularity after a private Swiss bank announced that it decided to offer bitcoin to its customers continues to attract big players. "Crypto markets are back on their feet and forging new record gains. The market cap of all the cryptocurrencies in circulation reached a new high of $142.8 Billion earlier this morning," Mati Greenspan, an analyst at eToro, told the Business Insider.