Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, Litecoin And Chainlink In Free Fall After Bitcoin Price Crashes Under $18,000—What’s Next?

Bitcoin has fallen sharply over the last 24 hours, moving away from the key $20,000 per bitcoin level.

The bitcoin price lost over $1,000 in a matter of hours, down over 5%, with cryptocurrency traders eyeing sharper falls for other major tokens ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, litecoin and chainlink—all down around 10% and wiping billions of dollars from the combined value of the world’s cryptocurrencies.

With bitcoin dropping under $18,000 per bitcoin for the first time this month, traders are asking how low could it go?

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The bitcoin and cryptocurrency market has been searching for direction over the last week after bitcoin’s November bull run stalled at just under $20,000 per bitcoin.

The latest move lower, that has seen bitcoin fall as low as $17,640 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange before somewhat rebounding, could mean bitcoin has given up a key support level.

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“$18,500 to $18,600 is the line in the sand which will determine the next price movement with the price having the potential to range between $18,500 and $19,000,” Ray Youssef, the chief executive of U.S.-based peer-to-peer bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Paxful, said via email.

“If the price breaks down then we risk going as low as $14,000-$17,000. Contrarily, $17,300 seems like the next area for buyers to step in on the down curve if the price drops bear. Hard to predict where it will go but I expect a rapid bounce back even if it hits the bottom.”

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Despite bitcoin’s recent dive, there are still reasons for bullishness.

“Bitcoin’s reserve risk [used to assess the confidence of long-term holders relative to the price of bitcoin] is still low, suggesting that the bull market may just be getting started,” cryptocurrency analysts at data provider Glassnode wrote in their weekly newsletter.

The bitcoin price began climbing in October after payments giant PayPal
PYPL
announced it would begin offering bitcoin buying and spending services, with bitcoin soaring toward its all-time highs of almost $20,000—almost doubling from its summer lows.

The bitcoin price rally through November propelled bitcoin and cryptocurrencies back into the limelight three years after bitcoin mania swept the world in late 2017, triggering a wave of interest from the world’s biggest banks and high-profile investors.

Last month, bitcoin price analytics company Token Metrics, which uses technical analysis of historical price data to make forecasts about the future price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, predicted bitcoin could see a correction in early December, warning the price could fall as low as $14,000.