Bitcoin plunges to near $6,000 levels, hits new low since May 2019
The price of bitcoin has fallen sharply by over 20% this morning.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency is now trading at around $6,200 levels, according to data from TradingView. This represents a new low since May 8, 2019.
Denis Vinokourov, head of research at London-based digital asset firm Bequant, told The Block that "widespread panic and position liquidations" took place after the U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus, which resulted in crypto fall.
"This downward pressure caused crypto markets to suffer a liquidity crunch as the cost of capital spiked up across trading venues. This tightening was exacerbated by the fact that the market is highly dominated by sell-side liquidity providers/market-making firms, with only a limited buy-side demand," said Vinokourov.
Prices of other top coins, including ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH) and XRP, are also all down by over 20% at the time of writing.
Markets around the globe are in red. Yesterday, the Dow Jones as well as the S&P 500 index closed down by 5%. The declines deepened after the World Health Organization declared coronavirus as a pandemic.
