Bitcoin price crash sees hundreds of billions wiped from crypto market
Ethereum, Binance Coin, Cardano, Solana and Ripple also suffer flash crashes of 5-15 per cent
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Your support makes all the difference.The price of bitcoin has crashed on Wednesday morning, dropping by thousands of dollars in the space of just a few minutes.
The cryptocurrency fell below $59,000 following the flash crash, down more than $5,000 from the levels it was trading at earlier this week.
The latest price drop comes less than a week after BTC hit a new all-time high of close to $67,000.
Follow The Independent’s live coverage of the crypto market
Blockchain data suggests today’s price crash is partly fuelled by long-term holders taking some profits, which typically happens after bitcoin hits a new all-time high.
Any sudden dip in price of more than a couple of per cent can trigger panic selling from crypto investors, though severe dips also typically attract new buyers.
“Am I the only one who gets excited by little mini dips in a bull market?” one investor wrote on Twitter. “Just buy the dip. Little flash sale.”
Another wrote: “Buy the dip, thank me later.”
Flash crashes seen earlier this year were followed by record-breaking bounce backs, with some crypto analysts predicting new all-time highs before the end of 2021.
Several other leading cryptocurrencies also tumbled in price, with Ethereum (ether), Binance Coin, Cardano (ada), Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP) all falling by between 5-15 per cent.
The overall crypto market fell below $2.5 trillion – more than $200 billion down from earlier this week.
The only cryptocurrency with a market cap above $20 billion to see any gains was the meme coin Shiba Inu. The dogecoin spin-off has doubled in price in the last week and bucked market trends on Wednesday to rise a further 20 per cent.
The price surge appears to be driven by speculation that it could be listed on popular trading app Robinhood.
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