Bitcoin price crash: Why is the crypto market collapsing?

Bitcoin has experienced one of its worst sell-offs in its history, plummeting in price by nearly 20 per cent over the last 24 hours to take it to its lowest level in six months.

Several other leading cryptocurrencies have suffered even worse downfalls, with eight of the top 10 most valuable tokens falling by more than 20 per cent since Sunday. The losses have totaled more than $300 billion for the combined crypto market, leading to fears among investors that the bull market that began in November 2022 may be coming to an end.

The crypto market downturn can be pinpointed to broader economic turmoil, which has seen massive losses for stock markets across Europe and Asia on Monday. When traditional financial markets begin to tumble, the crypto market typically mimics the downward movement as investors look to offload risky and volatile assets.

“Risk assets nosedived during the Asian trading session on Monday as a weaker US jobs report and higher unemployment rate from Friday, and a rising Japanese yen following the Bank of Japan’s recent interest rate hike, caused investors to flee risk assets,” said Simon Peters, a crypto analyst at the online trading platform eToro, who said that technical indicators may suggest bitcoin has bottomed out ahead of a potential recovery.

“It is possible we could see a rebound from here over the coming days, as to how high the price will rebound we have to wait and see,” he added.

The most recent slide began when weak jobs figures in the US last week prompted concerns that the world’s largest economy was slowing down. It led to a record-breaking drop of 12.5 per cent for Japan’s Nikkei 225 on Monday, while the FTSE 100 and Euronext 100 also fell by between two to three per cent.

In the crypto market, bitcoin dropped below $50,000 (£39,000) for the first time since February, while Ethereum (ETH) saw its value fall more than $1,000 in a matter of days, down from $3,300 at the start of the month.

“Panic has swept across cryptocurrency markets as participants witness waves of selling pressure,” Arthur Firstov, chief business officer at crypto payments provider, told The Independent.

“The wider digital token space is following steep losses in global stock markets amid fears of a slowdown in the US economy that is spurring speculation of an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve.”

Cryptocurrencies continue to function as a “hair-trigger, risk-off asset”, according to Mr Firstov, though he claimed structural growth in the crypto space in recent months should mean it is robust enough to withstand any sudden sell-offs.

This year has seen two major events for bitcoin, both of which helped provide momentum for a record-breaking rally that peaked at $74,000 in March.

The first was the approval of the first ever bitcoin spot exchange traded fund (ETF) by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in January, which brought billions of dollars of institutional investment to the crypto market for the first time.

This was followed by the bitcoin halving, which saw the rewards for mining the cryptocurrency slashed in half for the first time in four years. The sudden drop in supply, combined with the increase in demand, boosted both bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market before the latest downturn.