The price of bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, has been dropping significantly in the last 24-hour period, so much so that it has already lost nearly 10% of its value. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at $3,660 in what an analyst dubbed “normal market volatility.”
According to CryptoCompare data, BTC is down 9.7% as it went from a $4,040 high to $3,850 in about 30 minutes earlier today, and then plummeted to a daily low of about $3,650. Both sudden sell-offs saw trading volume surge, suggesting a large players have been selling quickly into the market.
Crypto analyst and trader Alex Kruger is sees it likely that $3,500-3,600 will be an area of strong consolidation, as well as a critial price level, and is long if the $3,600 level holds. He added that drop to below $3,300 would change his outlook to bearish. According to data from CryptoCompare, the Bitfinex BTC/USD order book has considerable buy support at $3,500-$3,600 suggesting strength at this consolidation range.
Bitfinex BTC/USD Order Book
As CryptoGlobe covered a study conducted by China’s state-run publication National Business Daily (NBD) found that less than 1% of all BTC addresses control nearly 87% of the cryptocurrency’s supply. The existence of these ‘whales, the study noted, is worrisome for investors as these large orders can significantly impact the market.
Bitcoin’s move downward came after Bloomberg revealed the cryptocurrency was on the verge of a big move as the “narrowing of the upper and lower bands of the GTI VERA Bands Indicator” suggests BTC was about to breakout.
It also comes after Ethereum Classic (ETC), a cryptocurrency created through a hard fork of Ethereum (ETH), suffered a 51% attack that saw a hacker reportedly double spend over 50,000 ETC, at press time worth over $219,000.
Speaking to CryptoGlobe Mati Greenspan, a senior market analyst at eToro, noted that he doesn’t believe the market’s drop is related to the 51% attack, and noted it “seems like normal crypto volatility to me.” Via Twitter, he published a chart that seems to show bitcoin has support at around $3,550.
Nothing to see here. pic.twitter.com/FnbRNZM7D5
— Mati Greenspan (@MatiGreenspan) January 10, 2019
When asked whether a breakdown below that level would see the cryptocurrency retest the $3,000 mark, he replied it “could be,” adding that the “relevant price levels are pretty clear but past performance is not an indication of future results.”
Bitcoin is Outperforming Altcoins
While BTC has lost nearly 10% of its value in the last 24-hour period, things seem to be worst for major altcoins. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 100 Index, a market cap-weighted index that tracks the top 100 cryptos, is currently down 11.65% in the same period.
Available data shows most top altcoins are down anywhere between 10% and 17% in said period. Ether, slid 16.5% to $126, while Bitcoin Cash and LTC dropped 16.1% and 16.2% respectively.
NEO, which has recently surged, lost 17.2% of its value as it’s trading at $7.8, while TRON’s TRX, which jumped last week over BitTorrent’s upcoming BTT token, lost 15.2% of its value, it’s trading at $0.025.
