Bitcoin Plunges Below 10K: Here's Why

Bitcoin, and nearly all cryptocurrencies for that matter, have seen their prices drop over the past 48 hours.

The price of Bitcoin has mostly been hovering between the $10000 and $12000 mark since June with occasional bouts of volatility, which does worry online gamblers attempting to transfer funds out of their wallets and into their bank accounts during these unstable periods.  While the transfter time typically takes between an hour and two hours, exchanges can experience delays during dropoff periods.  Bitcoin accounts for upwards of 70% of all funds transfers at sportsbooks in restricted market.

"Once again Bitcoin is searching for support and having trouble finding it," Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at brokerage eToro, wrote in a note to clients earlier today.

While Bitcoin is off some 6% over the last day, Bitcoin Cash, a varient of the original bitcoin, has led the market lower, losing more than 10%.  Bitcoin Cash has now become more widely accepted among the online gambling community over the past year.

Ethereum, Ripple's XRP, and litecoin, which between them make up the top five cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, were each down around 10% as well.

With many sportsbooks paying out via Bitcoin in just a few hours, it is probably wise to hold off requesting payouts at least for another day, or until things settle down a bit.

Forbes reported on the potential reasons for Bitcoin's slump over these past few days.

Some bitcoin and crypto analysts have speculated the fall in bitcoin prices is a response to a recovery in China's yuan, while others have looked to trouble in global equity markets brought on by the escalating U.S. China trade war.

Meanwhile, recent economic data out of China and Germany pointing to a faltering global economy and the U.K.'s looming exit from the European Union are all adding to uncertainty.

"[Bitcoin and cryptocurrency] volumes are back to normal today throughout the market but the price seems to be gradually falling," Greenspan added. "Many analysts have been doing their best to tie in the latest moves in the crypto market to the uncertainty in geopolitics but it's difficult to say exactly how much connection there really is."

There was some good news Thursday morning as the price of Bitcoin had bounced back to the $10,000 mark after dropping all the way down to $9400 overnight.

This is no time to panic, CoinTelegraph suggests:

For the time being, as Cointelegraph reported, analysts remain confident. Adding to those voices Thursday was veteran trader Peter Brandt, who noted that compared to its bullish period from 2015-2017, Bitcoin’s performance this year was superior.

During that period, BTC/USD often U-turned to test its moving average — one of the longer-term trend lines showing price trajectory.

“The current trend has yet to do so,” Brandt summarized on social media.

Other bullish tones came from Morgan Creek Digital co-founder, Anthony Pompliano, who added that even if it faced 50% price losses, Bitcoin would still have outperformed the S&P 500 in 2019.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com