Bitcoin and its crypto cousins took an almighty fall today as record highs suddenly turned into red screens across the board.
The first sign of trouble heralded itself shortly after midnight as Bitcoin (BTC) – seemingly looking solid around $57,500 with robust trading volume – started to suffer engine failure and lost altitude down to $56,500 within the hour.
At $56,000 for the next few hours, it looked like the losses may have been just a typical stumbling block in the notoriously volatile rollercoaster Bitcoin market.
However, a warning dip at around 9am showed trouble may have been looming as two consecutive hourly closes saw BTC’s value lose $1,800.
Things took a serious turn by lunchtime as the hourly candle closed on $52,101. This ignited a ferocious battle as waking bears smelled bull blood and drove a wick briefly to $47,500 – a full $10,000 below the first price of the day – before snapping back to a plateau at $53,400.
Shocking collapse
Bitcoin, though, wasn’t the day’s only victim. Ethereum (ETH) saw a similarly shocking collapse from $1,930 to $1,700 after briefly coming within touching distance of $1,500. High-flying Binance coin BNB also dropped from $325 to $285 via a swift visit on a wick to $238.
Popular altcoin (alternative cryptocurrency to Bitcoin) ADA seemed to be the only crypto clinging to the colour green as it held its recent run of steady form, as did Ripple (XRP) which seemed to attempt a minor breakout as the markets crumbled around it.
With the dust settling by late afternoon, traders began to lick their wounds and take stock of what the curious crash had done to the market.
Many appeared to be shrugging off the huge falls as another typical bump in the crypto road and one which, no doubt, will see trading volume return as investors look to buy what many are viewing as a dip in what is still very much a bull market.
Where the markets move from this point is very much a question on many lips and anyone’s guess but, what does appear certain this evening, is that no expert or analyst has yet been able to fathom quite what happened today.
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