Bitcoin Price Falls 11% as It Sinks Toward Six-Month Low

It's the first time Bitcoin has fallen below $39,000 since August 2021.

By Jeff Benson

Things were looking (slightly) up for Bitcoin as the week rolled to an end. Then the price came crashing back down.

After posting modest gains on Thursday to reach back above $43,000, the price of BTC plummeted back below the $40,000 price barrier. It didn't stop until it reached $38,592, according to CoinMarketCap, its lowest point since August 2 of last year.

That 11% drop is hardly unique to Bitcoin. Ethereum is in the midst of an 8% decline over the last 24 hours, Binance Coin said goodbye to 10% of its value, and Cardano took a 9% loss.

No coin or token in the top 20 by market cap (not counting stablecoins) has posted a weekly gain; most have double-digit losses. The total cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.83 trillion compared to $2.93 trillion on November 8. In the last day, it is down by more than 7%.

Things are bad all over, though, with equities markets also having a rough start to the year thanks in part to a combination of high inflation, COVID-linked worker and supply shortages, and impending interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 0.9% in Thursday trading to put its year-to-date losses at 4.5%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is faring much worse. After losing 1.3% on Thursday, it's down nearly 10% for the year.

U.S. stock markets have the advantage of closing this weekend. As crypto advocates will tell you, Bitcoin never sleeps. But maybe it should consider taking a break from this brutal January.