Bitcoin hits a 6-month low after extending its fall for an 8th straight day
- Bitcoin on Monday sank to its lowest level since May, dropping below a key $7,000 threshold.
- It fell to $6,575 at around 1 a.m. in New York (2 p.m. Hong Kong) as the world's largest cryptocurrency extended its losing run for an eighth straight day.
- Reasons for the drift are unclear, but one analyst pinned the drop on China pessimism.
- On Friday, the People's Bank of China told businesses that are involved with crypto to correct any "improper actions," according to Bloomberg.
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Bitcoin on Monday sank to its lowest level since May, falling below the key $7,000 threshold as the world's largest cryptocurrency extended its losing run for an eighth straight day.
According to Markets Insider data, bitcoin fell to $6,575 at around 1 a.m. in New York (2 p.m. Hong Kong), before rising to $6,767 at 4 a.m.
Bloomberg, which used data from Bitstamp, reported that the eight-day losing streak tied a for the currency's record fall in 2014.
"The market is so opaque if not damn right impenetrable," said Neil Wilson, chief markets analyst at Markets.com "But it does seem that the China optimism has gone and the market has rolled over as a result."
He added: "From a technical perspective we've blown out key support on the 61% Fib level of the big move up and now we may well see $5k before long ($5400 is the next major Fib line and the last line of defence.) If that is reached then we look to $3k again."
Bitcoin has rallied this year, rising 82% since the start of 2019, and even with the recent fall, the cryptocurrency is 69% higher than it was one year ago.
"There does not appear to be a single trigger for the sell-off, but it does come after a period of ongoing market uncertainty and we are seeing investors starting to look to the year end and closing positions which they are unsure about," said Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of Luno, a UK crypto buying and storage firm.
China is clamping down on crypto
China has been cracking down on cryptocurrencies since 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal, but in the last week this ramped this up.
On Friday the People's Bank of China told businesses that are involved with crypto to correct any "improper actions" according to Bloomberg, while the Journal reported that the PBoC "warned investors not to confuse blockchain technology with virtual currencies."
