The crypto meltdown showed no signs of receding with all major coins suffering heavy losses in early Tuesday trade.
The price of a single bitcoin, BTCUSD, -7.89% the world’s largest cryptocurrency, was last at $4,403.50, down 8.2% since 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken crypto exchange. Earlier in the session, bitcoin traded to $4,222.20, down more than 10% on the day, and 23% since the start of the trading week.
The total value of all cryptocurrencies has slumped to a 13-month low below $150 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
What are the analysts saying?
Despite psychological support at the $6,000 level holding for a prolonged period, the lack of a bounce should have been a red flag for bitcoin bulls, one analyst said.
“Enthusiasts may have looked at bitcoin’s ability to hold above $6,000 as a sign of a market bottoming, but the warning signs were there each time it failed to make a new high on a rebound — most notably in March, May, July and even September,” wrote Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.
“It’s always difficult to say where the market could stabilize again in such a wild market, but $3,000 looks an interesting level. This time last year, the sky was the limit for bitcoin and all the altcoins that piggybacked a ride, this year the ground below is looking very unsteady.”
Read: Opinion: Bitcoin still fooling buyers into believing those 200%-plus gains are coming back
Ether surrenders second spot in digital asset ranks
Altcoins, the name given to the group of more than 2,000 coins other than bitcoin, are showing heavy losses again Tuesday. Ether, ETHUSD, -11.05% which has slipped to third on the list of largest digital assets by total value, is trading at its lowest level since June 2017, down 11.1% at $131.07. Litecoin LTCUSD, -11.03% was down 11.2% at $32.04, Bitcoin Cash is off 8.5% to $236.00 and XRP, XRPUSD, -9.48% was down 9.3% at 44 cents.
Bitcoin futures have tumbled lower again on Tuesday. The Cboe Global Markets December contract XBTZ8, -9.21% is off 8.8% at $4,380 and the CME Group November contract BTCX8, -9.62% was down 8.7% at $4,415.
Read: Why bitcoin prices are staging a fresh collapse
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