The cryptocurrency ecosystem is currently going through a red day as most top cryptocurrencies are taking a hit, with some dropping over 20% in the last 24-hours. The cause behind the massive downswing is, at press time, unclear.
According to CryptoCompare data bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, has dropped below the $6,000 as it’s currently trading at $5,759 after falling over 9% in the last 24-hours. The sudden drop comes as BTC was becoming uncharacteristically stable, with its 30-day volatility index dropping to levels it hadn’t seen since December of 2016.
The drop is seeing bitcoin retest its yearly lows. As visible in the chart, however, its Relative Strength Index (RSI) has dipped into the oversold zone, which could mean the cryptocurrency may soon bounce back. Its support slightly below the $6,000 mark has been tested numerous times so far this year, and has been able to hold.
Other top cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, EOS, Monero, Dash, Litecoin, and Zcash have seen their prices drop between 12% and 16% in a sudden sell-off that has seen the cryptocurrency market lose $11 billion in only a few hours.
The sudden drop has seen BTC hit its lowest price since July. Yahoo Finance’s cryptocurrency heatmap provides an overview of how things are in crypto land.
The day’s biggest loser, among top cryptocurrencies, is Bitcoin Cash (BCH), as it has seen its price drop little over 20% in said period. The cryptocurrency has been rather volatile, as it has gained and lost 50% of its value in only a few days.
In the last two weeks, BCH saw its price go from about $425 to $640 ahead of its November 15 hard fork, as two different implementation – Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin Cash SV – threaten to split its network, which would reward holders with airdropped tokens.
Most cryptocurrencies often surge ahead of contentious hard forks as users buy to gain access to the airdropped tokens. Since its $640 high, however, BCH has been steadily dropping and is now back to $436. Below is the cryptocurrency’s price performance in the last two weeks.
As CryptoGlobe recently covered, the Bitcoin Cash SV side recently saw its pre-fork “futures” on Poloniex surge as self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto Craig Wright revealed over 50% of the network’s hashpower was supporting it.
This saw SV’s futures jump above those of ABC, as most users seem to be betting on it to win the “fork wars” that’ll be settled soon. Craig Wright, however, has threatened to use the network’s hashpower to “choke” the opposing side, by mining empty blocks. This would block transactions from going through, rendering the cryptocurrency useless. BCH’s drop is seemingly larger as users are factoring in the airdropped tokens could be virtually useless.
