After surging to an annual high of $187 per share during the final days of 2023, Coinbase has dropped by 20% amid bitcoin's price whipsawing, according to TradingView.

With the hope that spot bitcoin ETFs will eventually be approved — and spur an influx of institutional capital flowing into the digital asset — the price of the world's most popular cryptocurrency by market capitalization had been steadily increasing, reaching nearly $46,000 on Tuesday. Yet bitcoin's price dropped suddenly on Wednesday to trade at $42,205 as of 10:00 a.m. EST.

Coinbase shares also slipped on Wednesday to below $150 per share in early trading, a decline of about 5%. The U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, which is up by more than 300% in the last year, is set to custody assets for traditional financial …