Bitcoin crashes to lowest this year, losses top 25 percent in a week

By Tom Wilson and Tommy Wilkes

 

FILE PHOTO: A collection of Bitcoin (virtual currency) tokens are displayed in this picture illustration taken December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Illustration

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin slumped on Tuesday to its lowest this year, tumbling as much as 10 percent to breach $4,300 and taking losses in the world's best-known digital coin to 25 percent within a week.

 

Other smaller coins also skidded sharply as a broader cryptocurrency sell-off, said by traders and market makers to be rooted in heavy selling at leveraged Asian exchanges, gathered steam.

 

The fall followed a sudden plunge last week that shook bitcoin out of a period of relative stability, where prices had hovered around the $6,500 mark for several months.

 

Bitcoin sunk as far as $4,327, its lowest since October 2017. By mid-afternoon, it was trading around $4,750 on the Bitstamp exchange.

 

"We'd been waiting for a break-out," said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro. "When you have the price moving so steadily you had lots of stop-loss orders building up - and now you are seeing them being liquidated."

 

Ripple's XRP <XRP=BTSP> and Ethereum's ether <ETH=BTSP>, the second and third-largest coins, fell as much as 14 and 16 percent respectively before clawing back losses in U.S. trading hours.

 

Tuesday's falls coincided with broader drops in financial markets. European shares fell as poor retail results and weakness in Apple Inc <AAPL.O> dragged down Wall Street.

 

Bitcoin has plummeted over 75 percent this year from a peak of $20,000 touched in December as retail investors piled into a one of the largest bubbles in history.

 

"CASINO MENTALITY"

Traders and market makers blamed bitcoin's slide on heavy selling at leveraged exchanges in Asia such as Hong Kong-based OKEx and Bitmex. Few exchanges in the West lend bitcoin to traders, making the Asian venues popular with speculators.

 

"The presence of leverage makes day traders attracted to Asian markets," said Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis Global Trading in New York, one of the biggest over-the-counter trading desks.

 

"Folks who are risking 100X type of leverage, it’s really difficult to think of that as an investment – it’s a casino mentality."

 

Others blamed fears that last week's "hard fork" in bitcoin cash, where a software upgrade split the fourth-biggest coin into two separate currencies, could destabilise others.

 

The price of bitcoin tends to be sensitive to debates over how its underlying network evolves. Last year the suspension of hard fork planned by major developers and investors proved a major catalyst to its breakneck rise.

 

TOUGH BILLING

Mainstream investors have stayed clear of bitcoin, with concerns over scant regulatory oversight and undeveloped market infrastructure compounded by frequent swings in price.

 

That lack of involvement has seen bitcoin struggle to live up to its billing as something that will revolutionise world finance. Its usage as a payment currency has shrivelled this year.

 

At the same time, bitcoin's plunge in value has calmed the fears of regulators and central bankers that it could one day pose a risk to financial stability.

 

According to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com, the total value of cryptocurrencies is now around $154 billion, down from a peak of around $800 billion in January.

 

Cryptocurrency advocates say bitcoin is still young and price volatility is to be expected. Many predict the need for virtual currencies that operate beyond mainstream banking will outlast any short-term price falls.

 

By late afternoon, XRP and ether were trading around $0.45 and $142 respectively on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.

"The euphoria has died and prices have consolidated with lower lows and lower highs," said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at Forex.com. "A lot of people have lost interest."

 

(Reporting by Tom Wilson and Tommy Wilkes,; Editing by Saikat Chatterjee and Ed Osmond)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-21

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

"The euphoria has died and prices have consolidated with lower lows and lower highs," said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at Forex.com. "A lot of people have lost interest."

I think he means that a lot of people have lost money.

 

They never got any interest.

The Bitcoin pushers will all be saying ,Time to buy ????

regards worgeordie

6 hours ago, KittenKong said:

I think he means that a lot of people have lost money.

 

They never got any interest.

He wasn't talking about getting interest, he was talking about being interested, when he said they lost interest 

three quarters of a trillion dollars lost on a currency that is not backed by anything. not that any of them are backed by anything any more. the whole financial system has become extremely volatile as people borrow money at artificially low rates and over inflate the 'value' of everything. I am quite surprised things have been fairly stable for the last 10 years. I am hunkering in for a bit of a shake up and am invested in bullets and beans. 

People lost a ton of money by investing in something they didn't understand, the price of which had been inflated by a ton of people investing in something they didn't understand.

 

Where's the surprise in any of that?

 

 

Some pumpers are still claiming they believe it'll reach 100K USD by the end of the year.    

 

Blue sky.

 

Used to semi-sorta respect financial adviser Tom Lee, but rethinking that after seeing him just yesterday predicting BitCoin at $15,000 by year end! His body language said something totally different. Of course, his $15k price prediction was a downgrade from the $25k prediction he made earlier in the year. He looked like a beaten, embarrassed sad sack. ????

3 hours ago, guest879 said:

three quarters of a trillion dollars lost on a currency that is not backed by anything. not that any of them are backed by anything any more. the whole financial system has become extremely volatile as people borrow money at artificially low rates and over inflate the 'value' of everything. I am quite surprised things have been fairly stable for the last 10 years. I am hunkering in for a bit of a shake up and am invested in bullets and beans. 

Dr. Michael Burry focuses on investing in water. Beans aren't much use if there's nothing to wash them down with.

8 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

He wasn't talking about getting interest, he was talking about being interested, when he said they lost interest  

Do you seriously imagine that I was unaware of that?

7 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Do you seriously imagine that I was unaware of that?

No smiles, so no clues ????

18 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Used to semi-sorta respect financial adviser Tom Lee, but rethinking that after seeing him just yesterday predicting BitCoin at $15,000 by year end! His body language said something totally different. Of course, his $15k price prediction was a downgrade from the $25k prediction he made earlier in the year. He looked like a beaten, embarrassed sad sack. ????

After many years observation and study, have come to a conclusion that the vast majority of finanical advisers respectable or not are just making it up as they go along, and dont really have a clue and hide behind buzz words and BS 

40 minutes ago, Scottjouro said:

After many years observation and study, have come to a conclusion that the vast majority of finanical advisers respectable or not are just making it up as they go along, and dont really have a clue and hide behind buzz words and BS 

Post of the year for never truer words spoken.

On 11/21/2018 at 11:51 PM, Lacessit said:

Post of the year for never truer words spoken.

They're not making it up. They're talking their own book. It's very well scripted. They've got inventory to pump and/or sell.

 

Anyhow, gimmickry or a first step towards legitimacy?

 

https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/25/ohio-becomes-the-first-state-to-accept-bitcoin-for-tax-payments/?yptr=yahoo

11 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

They're not making it up. They're talking their own book. It's very well scripted. They've got inventory to pump and/or sell.

 

Anyhow, gimmickry or a first step towards legitimacy?

 

https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/25/ohio-becomes-the-first-state-to-accept-bitcoin-for-tax-payments/?yptr=yahoo

Its in the US which is behind the times on accepting crypto and not the first in the US for government  services

 

Vanuatu becomes the first country to accept bitcoin for citizenship

https://bravenewcoin.com/insights/vanuatu-becomes-the-first-country-to-accept-bitcoin-for-citizenship

 

Zug first to accept bitcoin for government services

 

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/crypto-valley_zug-first-to-accept-bitcoin-for-government-services/42143908

 

U.S. Government Agency Becomes the First to Accept Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash for the Payment of Taxes - Florida’s Seminole County

 

https://www.trustnodes.com/2018/05/20/u-s-government-agency-becomes-first-accept-bitcoin-bitcoin-cash-payment-taxes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, IsakMilligan said:

very sad to hear that. I want to start making money on bitcoin, but such price hikes scare me away. So far, I earn playing the game MotoCoin. For a week earned 0.07 BTC without investments. Who is interested in how to make money without investment, use. For now I will think over to be engaged in it or not.

Now is the time to get into crypto, price swings are the way you make money.. buy low sell high as the saying goes, dont listen to the BS that BTC is going to zero or crypto business is finished..

 

does the below sound like an asset class which has run its course ?....the blockchain/crypto game is just getting started, plenty of money still to be made 

 

Bloomberg: Nasdaq Still Planning Bitcoin Futures Launch in 2019

 

https://www.coindesk.com/bloomberg-nasdaq-still-planning-bitcoin-futures-launch-in-2019

12 minutes ago, Scottjouro said:

Now is the time to get into crypto, price swings are the way you make money.. buy low sell high as the saying goes, dont listen to the BS that BTC is going to zero or crypto business is finished..

does the below sound like an asset class which has run its course ?....the blockchain/crypto game is just getting started, plenty of money still to be made 

Bloomberg: Nasdaq Still Planning Bitcoin Futures Launch in 2019

https://www.coindesk.com/bloomberg-nasdaq-still-planning-bitcoin-futures-launch-in-2019

Are you a Bitcoin holder who would benefit financially if other people bought B/C and the price rose ?

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

Are you a Bitcoin holder who would benefit financially if other people bought B/C and the price rose ?

Nope, i hold other cryptos, but no BTC..

1 hour ago, Scottjouro said:

Now is the time to get into crypto, price swings are the way you make money.. buy low sell high as the saying goes, dont listen to the BS that BTC is going to zero or crypto business is finished..

People were saying that when the price went to 400 000 Baht for B/C , down from 650 000

Anybody traded futures contract in Bexplus exchange?