Ether tumbles below $100 as altcoins log double-digit losses
Cryptocurrency prices fell sharply on Friday, as another bout of selling took digital currencies to fresh lows.
Bitcoin, BTCUSD, +2.24% the world’s No. 1 digital currency, crashed through support at $3,500, falling more than 10% to a 15-month low at $3,230 on the Kraken exchange. A minor bounce has a single bitc,oin currently fetching $3265.00, down 9.3% since 5 p.m. Thursday.
“The price of bitcoin has crippled on the back of this and I think it is likely that the price may not only drop below the $2K mark, but with this kind of momentum behind it, the price can test the 1500 level,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analysts at Think Markets U.K. in a research note. “Simply put, the bad news keeps coming just like cockroaches coming out of a hole.”
But Aslam said the rout has to stop somewhere, which presents a golden opportunity for crypto believers. “This is a crypto market which has the ability to blow your mind and the downside is limited and the price at its current level represents an opportunity of a lifetime,” he said.
Bitcoin has now fallen 84% from its all-time high above $19,000.
Altcoin collapse sees Ether trade below $100
Altcoins, or digital coins other than bitcoin, haven’t fared any better. Ether, ETHUSD, -5.61% tumbled to a 19-month low at $82.44, down 13.2%, Litecoin LTCUSD, -3.01% was off 16.8% at $23.25, XRP, XRPUSD, +3.45% was down 10% at 29 cents and Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, -5.11% made another record low, trading under $100 to $97,70, down 12.7%.
The crypto-wide selloff shed a further $10 billion off the market value of all cryptocurrencies, which is at a 15-month low of $106 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin futures traded spot prices lower on Friday. The Cboe Global Markets December contract XBTZ8, -7.74% ended down 8.5% at $3,282.50 and the CME Group December contract BTCZ8, -7.78% finished Friday down 8.3% at $3,300.
