The fall is as dizzying as it is rapid. The price of bitcoin lost 10,000 dollars in less than an hour on the night of Friday 3 to Saturday 4 December, or nearly 20% of its value. It then recovered, but remained affected by the caution prevailing in the financial markets.
At around 5 p.m. PST on Saturday, the virtual currency was trading at $ 48,210, down 10% from Friday night. Around 6 a.m., the price had suddenly dropped to $ 42,296, apparently without any specific explanation.
Cryptocurrency accustomed to violent movements
“Cryptocurrencies have been shaken up by the broader risk conditions associated with [au variant] Omicron and the expectations of a [politique monétaire aux Etats-Unis] more aggressive, but really started nosing around on Friday, in the wake of the drop in equity markets ”, commented Martha Reyes, who leads research for the Bequant cryptocurrency exchange. In fact, the main Wall Street indices ended in the red on Friday, led by weakness in technology stocks.
The downturn in bitcoin, accustomed to violent moves, is not completely surprising. Indeed, the currency has been evolving since the end of November in a limited trading range and some investors may have wanted to unwind certain positions, believes Mr.me Reyes.
The analysis of Anto Paroian, of the fund specializing in cryptocurrencies ARK36, is the same. After hitting a record high of $ 68,363 on November 10, the virtual currency fell back and “Has repeatedly failed to cross the threshold of 60,000 dollars”, he underlines in a note recalling that bitcoin has regularly recorded falls of 20% to 30% before recovering.