As was somewhat to be expected, the Bitcoin price is suffering from a massive sell-off. With the launch of Bitcoin futures approaching, things could have gone in either direction. No one is surprised to learn this market is experiencing some big dips right now, and it will take some time for the Bitcoin price to recover. CoinMarketCap still lists a BTC value of over US$14,000, but that level will not hold.
Bitcoin Price Woes Continue
After a very strong run toward US$19,000, it quickly became apparent the Bitcoin price would undergo a correction sooner or later. While there has been no massive, sudden dip to speak of, it is evident that market sentiment has turned against the world’s leading cryptocurrency. What goes up in value in spectacular fashion must eventually come down as well, and Bitcoin is no exception in this regard.
More specifically, the Bitcoin price seems to decline in short but steep dips these days. We saw a drop to US$17,000 followed by a small leg up and then another push toward US$15,000. After a few hours of upward momentum, the price eventually fell to US$14,000. Over the past 24 hours, we have seen a few attempts to send the price as low as US$13,000. It seems to be only a matter of time before one of those attempts is successful.
None of this bearishness is unexpected, as the weekend is often a very problematic time for cryptocurrency trading. Whether or not tomorrow will be a better day remains to be seen, as that’s when the Bitcoin futures markets will open officially. Whether the next price trend will be positive or negative remains to be determined. Speculation is running wild among Bitcoin investors; that much is certain.
Thanks to over US$14.55 billion in 24-hour trading volume, things are still looking pretty good for Bitcoin. The demand for the world’s leading cryptocurrency has not diminished whatsoever, but there is still a lot of negative pressure on the market as well. How all of this will evolve in the next few weeks and months is anybody’s guess right now. Bitcoin price predictions are still all over the place right now, and there is a chance to hit either US$1,000 or US$40,000 in the near future.
As one would expect, BitMEX has maintained its position as the leading exchange in terms of Bitcoin trading volume. Over US$2.57 billion worth of BTC has changed hands over the last 24 hours on this platform alone. Bithumb and Bitfinex are still duking it out for second place, although the South Korean exchange is clearly in the lead right now. Bitfinex has the lowest Bitcoin price of all top 10 exchanges right now, which is rather unusual.
The remainder of 2017 should be quite interesting for Bitcoin price speculators. With this wake-up call behind us, we may see another push toward US$19,000 in the coming weeks. At the same time, this may only be the beginning of a major correction which could push the price down to US$10,000 or lower. Everything is possible in the world of Bitcoin right now, including making or losing a great deal of money.
