Cryptocurrency Market Falls To 2018 Low: What's Going On?

The
total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market fell to a 9-month low, losing over $30 billion within a day. Bitcoin is traded again at the mark of $6,200.

Bears are back to the market. Within a day, the total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market fell from $255 billion to $221 billion, and the bitcoin price is down to $6,285, losing more than 11%. The capitalization of the cryptocurrency market has not been at this level since November 2017.

Ethereum, second cryptocurrency by capitalization, fell in price to $359, also losing about 11% per day. Other altcoins from the top 10 lost even more, with Ripple falling by 19%, to $0.33. Bitcoin Cash lost in price 18%, and EOS is down by 22%.

According to CoinMarketCap, only three tokens are traded with slight growth, two of them being of a low capitalization of about $100 million, Aurora and ODEM, and Tether, which traditionally demonstrates a slight increase during recessions of the cryptocurrency market, as traders and investors in a hurry withdraw crypto assets into fiat and stable coins to minimize losses.

The main news that prompted cryptocurrencies to sharply fall was the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) announce to postpone the decision on VanEck and SolidX exchange traded fund (ETF) tied to bitcoin. Now it is expected not earlier than 30 September 2018, although many experts agree that this term will also be postponed and the decision on bitcoin-ETF will not be taken earlier than in February or March 2019, when the SEC can no longer postpone their response to the application.

Uncertainty with the regulators of the largest jurisdictions exerts strong pressure on the cryptocurrency market and prevents institutional investors from entering the market.

          "Until the regulatory question mark is     
             resolved, I don't expect to see price    
                 targets from the major banks    
                  because they would be taking the  
                  risk of having investors rely on that 
                number and then exposing    
           themselves to legal risks without 
         having a solid valuation or methodology 
       or confidence in that number because 
     the volatility is so high and so many things 
      can happen," Lex Sokolin, global director 
       of Fintech Strategy at Autonomous    
          Research, said to IBTimes." 

Another factor that had a negative effect on the bitcoin price could be the situation with OKex exchanges and the liquidation of a large long position on bitcoin worth of approximately $420 million.

    "The fall of bitcoin has agitated the    
   financial world, and the
    reason for this downward trend
    is that the Hong Kong-based exchange 
     OKex has liquidated futures contracts   
   totaling 420 million USD forcibly. 
      This position was opened by only one    
      client of the exchange, afterwards OKEx  
      did not cope with the execution of this    .   
        order and appealed to traders. All this   
    contributed to the mass sale of bitcoin. At   
      the same time, it is worth noting that bulls 
         are given an excellent opportunity to 
      restore their positions, as the trend of 
       bitcoin's growth remains," experts of 
        FXOpen believe ""

Positive factors for cryptocurrencies remain in place, as traditional financial institutions still demonstrate certain interest in the market. Although cryptocurrencies fall in prive, they invest in crypto solutions and announce the launch of trading platforms for cryptocurrencies. So, Boerse Stuttgart, second largest stock exchange of Germany, expects to create a platform for ICO, digital currencies and custodiak service for crypto assets. And Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), operator of the New York Stock Exchange, will launch a crypto exchange platform Bakkt in November 2018, which will offer services for trading and converting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, solutions for storing digital assets and various applications.