Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest levels in the past month and has officially broken through the bottom of its previously established trading range between $6,200 and $6,700. Bitcoin’s drop has led to a widespread market loss, with most major altcoins trading down 10% or more.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading down 7% at its current price of $5,850, the lowest price it has seen in a month. Today’s drop has decisively pushed its price below its previously established support level of $6,200, which it has held on multiple occasions in the past couple of months.
It now appears that Bitcoin will test its yearly lows of approximately $5,800, and an end-of-year rally is looking significantly less likely.
Ricky Li, the co-founder of Altonomy, a cryptocurrency trading and asset management firm, spoke to MarketWatch about BTC’s latest price action, explaining that it is unlikely that it will see any immediate positive price action due to a lack of interest from retail traders.
“Bitcoin is not only going through low volatility, but also very low volume. It’s at the lowest trading volume in 2018, especially the spot market. This signals a very low retail participation. So without enough external funding or retail participation, the market is probably going to stay around the current price with low volatility and volume in the near future,” Li said.
Related Reading: Bitcoin Drifts Lower Under $6,400 as Altcoins Have Mixed Trading Session
Altcoins Experience First Massive Drop in Months
Altcoins, many of which have seen positive pricing action in the months and weeks prior, have been the worst affected by today’s drop, many of which are nearing drops of 20%.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading down over 15%, at its current price of $0.438. Yesterday, XRP was retesting highs of approximately $0.53, and its pricing action was looking bright. Today’s drop is now bringing yearly lows back into play, with XRP’s year-to-date low hovering around $0.25.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which is undergoing its controversial hard fork event tomorrow, is also having a terrible day, currently trading down over 17% at its current price of $434.76, virtually erasing all its previous gains that resulted from hype surrounding the hard fork event.
BCH rose from lows of $415 in late October to highs of $635 in early-November, before crashing to its current price. The high selling volume preceding the hard fork event likely signals that investors are not interested in the crypto units resulting from tomorrow’s hard fork event.
Ironically, Tether (USDT) has also seen some volatility today, temporarily moving above the ever-so-important $1.00 figure that it has been struggling to reach, before crashing back to its current price of $0.98. This signals that traders are rapidly buying and exchanging USDT units in order to execute trades and could signal that there is more volatility to be seen in the day ahead.
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