The crypto rout continues. On Saturday, bitcoin, the world’s largest digital currency, crashed through the $4,000 mark, falling as much as 15% and hitting a fresh 14-month low below $3,500.
Saturday’s decline marked the 12th losing session in the past 14 and has bitcoin BTCUSD, -3.01% on track for its third consecutive weekly loss. In Sunday afternoon trading, a single bitcoin was fetching $3,957.63, according to CoinDesk prices.
It’s been a torrid year for investors in the nascent digital technology. Since Jan. 7, more than $700 billion has been wiped off the total value of all cryptocurrencies, which now stands at $122 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Yet its hardcore proponents remain unperturbed.
“This opportunity doesn’t come often. If you missed out in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, now’s the time,” wrote cryptocurrency analyst Joseph Young in a tweet, referring to the opportunity for investors to buy bitcoin at $3,000 and ether at $100.
Altcoins, or coins other than bitcoin, haven’t fared any better. Ether ETHUSD, -2.82% traded below $100 for the first time since May 2017, bitcoin cash BCHUSD, -3.35% tumbled through $200 and is now down 94% on the year, and XRP XRPUSD, -1.92% , the coin of the Ripple protocol, was at 32 cents.
Traders will be watching bitcoin futures prices when they open on Monday. Should the CME BTCZ8, -5.63% contract trade toward $3,200 it would be at risk of hitting a 20% hard limit, which, if reached, is a level the contract cannot trade below for the remainder of the session.
