Bitcoin is back on the floor: down 4.7% at $86,190.58, hovering around levels last seen in April after crypto markets rediscovered gravity on Monday.
The slump followed a sharp early-Asia tumble that briefly dragged the token below $86,000. Ether joined the misery with a drop of more than 5% to $2,831.18, while Solana shed 5%, because apparently nobody wanted to be left out.
All of these levels represented a recovery from lows posted during a shaky open in Asia for crypto traders.
The wider market has been wobbly since early October, when $19 billion in leveraged positions evaporated just days after Bitcoin’s record high of $126,251.
November didn’t help: Bitcoin lost around 17% before clawing back above $90,000 last week.
Now battle-scarred traders are bracing for another leg down. $80,000 is seen as the next important floor for BTC.
Investors were also digesting comments from Strategy Inc. CEO Phong Le, who said the company could sell Bitcoin if its enterprise-value-to-holdings ratio turned negative: “a last resort,” but enough to spook the market.
Fresh pressure came from a USDT stability downgrade by S&P Global Ratings, plus a warning from China’s central bank about the risks of virtual currencies.