[UPDATED Nov. 26, 2020, 09:00 UTC] Bitcoin has fallen almost $3,000 from levels close to all-time highs.
At around 2:15 UTC, bitcoin (BTC) began to tumble significantly as its value dropped below a previous area of support at around $18,474.
Spot volume across major exchanges also rose sharply as bitcoinâs 24-hour range fell to between $19,474 and $16,514 â its sharpest decline since the wider markets crash in March, according to CoinDesk 20 data. Todayâs fall marks an over 12% drop over 24 hours.
Bitcoin was last seen trading up slightly at $17,040.
âI think this is a correction before we break $20,000,â said Ki Young Ju, CEO at analytics firm CryptoQuant. âOther long-term on-chain indicators like BTC and stablecoin reserve say the potential buying pressure still prevails so far.â
While the reason for the drop isnât entirely clear, the sell-off move comes at a time when Coinbaseâs CEO Brian Armstrong voiced his concerns on Wednesday night over the U.S. Treasury Departmentâs rumored plans to attempt to track owners of self-hosted cryptocurrency wallets.
It also came soon before an expected flood of bitcoin onto the market that had been frozen on the OKEx exchange due to an absent key holder. OKEx restarted withdrawals at 08:00 UTC, well after the main portion of Thursdayâs drop.
The plunge liquidated $950 million worth of positions across major exchanges, as noted by derivatives data provider Bybt.
âThe latest BTC price drop is the first of many tests for new money on whether they have the vision and stomach to truly invest in BTCÂ and the future of digital finance, or if theyâll simply repeat 2018 and wash out of the market,â said Jehan Chu, co-founder and managing partner at Hong Kong-based blockchain investment and trading firm Kenetic.
Most other notable cryptocurrencies also fell, with Chainlink and Cardano suffering the worst drops across the board, losing 18.9% and 16.7%.
See also: Coinbase CEO: Trump Administration May âRush Outâ Burdensome Crypto Wallet Rules
Updated (Nov. 26, 2020, 09:30 UTC) to include information regarding OKEx withdrawals.
Updated (15:12 UTC, Nov. 26 2020): Corrected headline and sentence that said the drop was the largest in 12 weeks. The 12% drop is the largest since March.