Summary:

  • A cryptocurrency block experiences an immense sell-off, Bitcoin (BTCUSD) falls more than 30% from its all-time high
  • Bitcoin daily transactions decline, it could be among reasons pushing the cryptocurrency lower
  • Global daily volume in cryptocurrency markets has already closed to the average NYSE turnover
  • Market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies slumped almost 20% during the last 24 hours

The calm is always followed by the storm, this sentence seems to be particularly well-matched with regard to Bitcoin. After several days of relative calmness sellers have taken control on the market ultimately. Consequently, the price crashed over the past hours to below $13,000 from above $17,000 seen yesterday morning. Even as there was no a specific reason for the ongoing carnage across cryptocurrencies we want to outline two factors which could have stood behind the slump. First and foremost one needs to keep in mind that interest in alternative digital currencies also knows as altcoins tends to pick up when there is too much activity congesting the blockchain network thus one may suspect that activity could have slowed down to some extent.

link do file download linkA count of Bitcoin daily transactions decline being a potential drag on the cryptocurrency price. Source: bitcoin.com, XTB Research

The second reason is the falling number of daily transactions via Bitcoin. According to the data provided by bitcoin.com we may notice that a count of daily transactions (a 14-day moving average) has slipped lately and once this trend unfolds going forward it could put a brake on the mind-blowing uptrend seen in Bitcoin. Finally let’s also add that falls across cryptocurrencies could theoretically reach 100% in a day as there is no so-called ’circuit breaker’ a mechanism that halts trading in dramatic sell-offs aimed at averting full-blown panics.

link do file download linkBitcoin (BTCUSD) plunged over the past hours slipping below $13,000. Technically an extended pullback seems to be on the cards once bears successfully manage to break below $13,100 albeit this level is underpinned by a 61.8% retracement hence it could not be an easy task. Source: xStation5

Bitcoin is not the sole virtual currency tumbling today as the sell-off could be found elsewhere as well. For one let’s take a closer look at Dash which has already plunged from above $1300 to below $900. 

link do file download linkDash (DSHUSD) crashed along with other digital currencies but a decline has been halted thus far by a 50% retracement of the last leg higher. Source: xStation5

While the Bitcoin price continues its march lower global cryptocurrency markets might boast about volume being almost the same seen on New York Stock Exchange. According to the data provider coinmarketcap.com daily volume in the global cryptocurrency market passed a $50 billion mark on Wednesday which was very close to the average daily turnover on the NYSE. Although the comparison is not exact as there were speculations that the cryptocurrency market could be arguably closer to the foreign-exchange market with daily volume over $5 trillion, it underlines how hot the digital currency market has become this year.

link do file download linkOn the back of the widespread sell-off seen in the cryptocurrency bloc total market capitalization moved down from above $600 billion to around $480 billion in just a day. Source: coinmarketcap.com