Bitcoin rebounds after dipping below US$10,000 in unpredictable white-knuckle ride
The cryptocurrency proved volatile on Wednesday, dipping dramatically before raising again - although it’s still down from its mid-December high
Bitcoin’s wild start to 2018 turned breakneck on Wednesday, with the largest cryptocurrency plunging below US$10,000 (HK$78,177) for the first time in six weeks before staging a rally to trade virtually unchanged.
The gyrations took the digital token across a trading range of more than US$2,600 (HK$20,327) over 18 hours. Its tumble to a low of US$9,186 (HK$71,818) pushed a month-long rout past 50 per cent and raised the spectre that last year’s 1,400 per cent rally was giving way to what many considered an inevitable bursting of the bubble.
Bitcoin rebounded more than US$1,600 (HK$12,509) in the next four hours to trade at $10,850 (HK$84,828) as of 4:25pm in New York (5:25am HKT), according to consolidated pricing data collated by Bloomberg.
The drama Wednesday was sparked by increased scrutiny from regulators around the world that spread across the cryptocurrency realm in recent days, wiping out more than US$300 billion in value just since Saturday.