The current cryptocurrency market trend has taken a turn for the worse. More specifically, we’re seeing all major cryptocurrencies in the red once again. In the case of NEM, things are looking particularly bad. In fact, it seems the NEM price is taking a sudden and massive dump, resulting in a 17.58% decline over the past 24 hours. That’s not a positive sign, although there appears to be a possible explanation for the current dip.
NEM Price Dips in Spectacular Fashion
It is evident that the cryptocurrency markets are taking a big hit across the board once again. Almost US$50 billion has been wiped off the total market capitalization in the past few hours, even though there is no real reason behind it. As for the NEM price, we are looking at a value of US$0.793, which is a fair bit lower than the US$1.18 value of a few days ago. This dip was partially caused by the Bitcoin price crash, but there are other factors at play as well.
More specifically, there is a rumor that Coincheck was affected by a breach. A total of 600,000 NEM may have been stolen and dumped on the market, which would have forced the NEM price to collapse. It would certainly help explain the 17.58% 24-hour drop in price, although this is clearly not the only reason for that development. Moreover, the NEM price also declined by 10.76% against Bitcoin, which is another worrisome sign.
Over the past few weeks, the NEM price has risen to spectacular highs. Few people assumed this altcoin would ever surpass US$1, but it seemed to be rather easy in the end. NEM will have a tough time recovering its lost value in the near future. Especially now that all markets have turned uber-bearish once again, we may be looking at a NEM price of US$0.75 or lower before the day is over.
With just US$98.7 million in 24-hour trading volume, the demand for NEM doesn’t seem to be all that large right now. Keeping the potential Coincheck issue in mind, it seems the exchange itself hasn’t generated any significant trading volume for NEM either. It is unclear if there is any truth to the hack-related rumors at this point, as it seems the NEM price would have taken a big dip regardless.
Most of the current NEM trading volume originates from the Zaif exchange. With US$26.243 million in volume, the Japanese platform is ahead of both Upbit and Bittrex. Interestingly, Zaif is also the only non-Korean fiat currency market in the entire top 18 for NEM. Moreover, the NEM price on Zaif is a lot lower compared to Bittrex, Poloniex, and other Western exchanges. It’s an interesting development which may drive the NEM price down even further in the coming hours.
For the time being, it remains unclear what the future holds for the NEM price. Depending on whether or not the Coincheck rumors are true, this may only be the beginning of a major price drop. At the same time, if Bitcoin continues to go down in value, it’s not unlikely the same result will transpire rather quickly. None of the cryptocurrency markets look particularly healthy right now, but things can always turn around when people least expect it. For those willing to take a gamble, buying NEM at its current price could prove to be a rather lucrative investment.
