Bitcoin Prices Continue To Decline, Hitting Fresh 2018 Low

Bitcoin prices dropped today, hitting their lowest point this year.

Bitcoin prices continued to decline today, falling below $5,800 and reaching a new low for the year.

The digital currency dropped to as little as $5,785.43 by 16:00 UTC (12:00 p.m. EST), according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

At this point, Bitcoin was down roughly 5.3% over the last 24 hours and was trading at its lowest since November 2017, additional BPI figures show.

In addition, the cryptocurrency had plunged more than 70% from the all-time high of $19,783.21 it reached in December.

Later on, Bitcoin prices recovered, trading at $6,162.03 at the time of this writing.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]

A Bearish Trend

Bitcoin has been suffering a gradual, downward trend for the last several months, losing roughly more than two-thirds of its value since hitting an all-time high late last year.

Several analysts have spoken to this trend, including Marius Rupsys, a digital currency investor.

"Statistically Bitcoin has been in bear market for a while," stated Rupsys.

As the digital currency's price continues to fall, other indicators of market activity remain lackluster, noted Scott Weatherill, chief risk manager of B2C2 Japan.

"Exchange volumes continue to languish and Google search trend statistics show that search volumes for 'bitcoin' sit at just 10% of the heights witnessed at the peak of the mania in December," he stated.

Potential Rally

In spite of these bearish signals, Bitcoin could be heading toward a rally soon, said Jon Pearlstone, publisher of the newsletter Cryptopatterns.

Bitcoin is heading towards $5,000, "and that is still the most likely path," he stated.

However, the digital currency's trading volume has risen a little today, and the price has recovered from its recent lows, said Pearlstone.

"Add this buying to multiple technical indicators showing bullish divergence and it could mean a bounce is coming that could turn into a 'relief rally' with a target of $7250."

"Getting above the key price level of BTC $6450 is the confirmation level for the short term bullish path we're watching."

Disclosure: I own some Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ether.