Bitcoin Drops Below $3.4k to Set a New 2018 Low

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has once again hit a fresh 2018 low amid a greater crypto market sell-off.

On Dec. 7 around 1:00 UTC, bitcoin (BTC) dropped by 11.46 percent to find a bid below $3,500 at $3,306 surpassing the prior low of $3,640, according to CoinMarketCap and CoinDesk data.

The sell-off has continued to plague the world’s best known cryptocurrency since its most recent rapid depreciation from the $6,000 mark almost a month ago, taking most of the alt-coins along with it.

Bitcoin’s market capitalization has also dropped by $4.8 billion over a 24-hour period and is down more than $14 billion on the week, indicating a shift by traders away from crypto’s first-mover back to fiat as hope in a crypto reversal wanes for this year.

According to CoinDesk data, bitcoin has now erased the largest portion of its October, November and December 2017 bull run gains and is effectively down 84.28 percent from its all time highs of $19,781.

Bitcoin is also down 64 percent year-over-year, having dropped hard from each successive lower highs.

The cryptocurrency isn’t the only major network feeling the pain as ether, Stellar, and bitcoin cash each fell between 11-15 percent and show technical signs of not letting up anytime soon.

Total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies fell sharply as well, wiping away another $11.5 billion to stand at $110.6 billion on the day, a far cry from $813 billion seen on Jan. 8, CoinMarketCap data shows.

Disclosure: The author holds USDT at the time of writing.

Bitcoin Image via Shutterstock