Bitcoin (BTC) fell below the psychologically important $ 51,000 mark in a 24-hour period leading up to press time on Thursday night and an analyst thinks more pain is yet to come.
What happened: The leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization reached an intraday low of $ 50,856.57. So far, BTC was 0.51% lower, to $ 52,019.04.
In a subsequent seven-day period, BTC fell 9.57%. From its historical record of $ 61,683.86 – set 12 days ago – the cryptocurrency fell 15.77%.
Analysts expect the downward momentum to continue and are warning that the BTC may exceed $ 50,000 levels.
“Judging by recent events, traders seem happy to be selling high, rather than buying the drop. So don’t be surprised if we see a new weakness in the markets later in the session, ”wrote Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at ThinkMarkets, as reported by MarketWatch.
Razaqzada said that more bad news may be reserved for BTC. “Cryptography has been positively correlated with risky assets over the past year and if that relationship remains strong, then the digital currency may follow lower risky assets.”
Why does it matter: Razaqzada urged Bitcoin traders to be cautious as, according to him, the “risk appetite” is slowly disappearing, MarketWatch reported.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) the announcement that it would accept BTC for payments also led to profit taking, according to Shane Ai, head of research and development at crypto exchange Bybit, Business Insider reported.
See too: How Tesla plans to deal with bitcoin volatility in vehicle payments
Another factor that contributed to the fall of BTC is the maturity of US $ 5 billion in options, due on Friday, according to Ai.
The expiration of contracts and some investors pushing the price down to make money from betting against cryptocurrency in the options market “led to pressure on cash sales at the end of the quarter,” according to the analyst.
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