Bitcoin (BTC) has broken below $4,000 and could test short-term barriers of $3,400, traders are predicting.
After hitting all-time highs approaching $4,500 earlier last week, a correction has seen the Bitcoin price dip below the significant $4,000 level.
The move was broadly anticipated given the speed the virtual currency grew by 50 percent from $3,000, opportunists keenly eyeing a chance to buy coins at what they consider the next ‘dip.’
Even mainstream media investment sources predicted the sub-$4,000 drop, with CNBC advising viewers to wait until $3,600 to buy Bitcoins.
Following a bounce back to around $4,200 and a subsequent fall of $400, Bitcoin’s price performance is so far remarkably in line with CNBC host Brian Kelly’s predictions.
Meanwhile, the losses repeated across cryptocurrency markets, ending an altcoin surge which only managed to sustain several days’ gains.
The notable exception remains Monero, which posted a huge 75 percent increases in value Monday after South Korean exchange Bithumb announced it would launch trading.
Across the top ten coins on Coinmarketcap, both Ethereum forks declined, with Ethereum Classic hovering around multi-month lows of $13, having previously risen as high as $24.
Sleeping Bulls?
Long-term, commentators are sensing too much of a good time could mean Bitcoin’s growth remains sluggish going forward.
The past two years have seen a noticeable acceleration in price comparatively recently, repeating previous boom-and-bust style peaks and troughs but in a more exaggerated manner.
As such, a potential drop could be equally steep as the past six months’ climbs, commentators say, with one trader suggesting that while $2000 is “possible” this year, a Mt. Gox-style bust is less likely.
Mid $2000s is possible by this year but I highly doubt we'll go below $2000. /2$BTC #Bitcoin
— SatoSqueeze (@cryptoSqueeze) August 22, 2017
The mood surrounding a Bitcoin ‘bubble’ is more contrasting, meanwhile, with well-known names such as Max Keiser and John McAfee recently repeating assertions no such bubble exists.
Other revered price forecasters, notably Kay Van-Petersen and masterluc, have also stood by predictions Bitcoin could expand by multiple thousands of dollars in the near term.