Bitcoin declined more than 10% today, falling to nearly $7,500 as the broader digital currency markets experienced a retracement.
The price of bitcoin dropped to as little as $7,517.12 at roughly 3:15 p.m. EDT, CoinDesk data shows.
At this point, the cryptocurrency had lost approximately 12% in the last 24 hours and more than 17% from its recent high of almost $9,100, additional CoinDesk figures reveal.
Several digital currencies have also declined recently, with litecoin, ether and EOS having fallen at least 9.5% over the last 24 hours.
[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]
“The market has moved a lot in recent weeks so this is just a retracement,” said Charles Hayter, cofounder and CEO of digital currency data platform CryptoCompare.
Bitcoin climbed upwards of 200% between December 2018 and last month, when it reached $9,084.15.
Market ‘Retracement’
“The market has moved a lot in recent weeks so this is just a retracement,” said Hayter.
Tim Enneking, managing director of Digital Capital Management, offered a similar perspective, stating that:
“The entire crypto trading community has been waiting for a pullback for some time now,” he stated.
“Most people, including us, are looking for a 25-30% pullback from the high (of about $9,100). So far, we’ve gotten about half that.”
“We did not have pull back or longer term consolidation since we started this bull market,” said Marius Rupsys, a digital currency investor.
“There were no particular news, seems like people taking off some gains from the table.”
‘Confluence Of Events’ Affecting Bitcoin
John Todaro, director of digital currency research for TradeBlock, offered a different point of view.
“You are seeing a confluence of events that is putting pressure on bitcoin over the past several days,” he stated.
“First, you had bitcoin fall after just touching $9,000 per coin last week as traders took profits following what has been a very strong run–bulls seem to be looking to take a breather here.”
Todaro also spoke to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s recent action against social media startup Kik.
The SEC announced earlier today that it was suing Kik for allegedly selling $100 million worth of securities during its initial coin offering (ICO), which took place in 2017.
“SEC enforcement actions against crypto projects and companies often put pressure on the space broadly, including bitcoin,” he emphasized.
Finally, he spoke to recent declines in risk-on assets, speculating that this development could provide tailwinds for digital currencies, which he described as being “somewhat more speculative assets.”
