Comments
Bitcoin fell back below the $8,000 level for the first time in more than a week to halt its most recent rally, leading a wider retreat among cryptocurrencies.
The largest digital currency slumped almost 10 per cent and was trading at $7,930 at 8:57 am in Hong Kong, its biggest retreat in about two weeks. Bitcoin touched a year-to-date high of almost $9,100 on May 30, the data show. The wider Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index also fell as alternative coins including Ether and Litecoin retreated.
Bitcoin is down about six per cent so far in June, after its best month since August 2017 amid a resurgence in investor sentiment following months of relative inactivity. Industry watchers pointed to renewed institutional interest this year with the likes of Facebook Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co developing coins of their own.
It got extended, this is a healthy retracement, said Timothy Tam, co-founder and chief executive (CEO) at CoinFi, a cryptocurrency research firm in Hong Kong. “There is quite a lot of volume going through, this is normal Bitcoin volatility. At the end of the day it still doesn’t take a lot of money to move these markets compared with traditional markets,” Tam added.
Headwinds from the wider sell-off in global markets are also a factor, leading to speculative flow through alternative markets such as cryptocurrencies as well, Tam said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.