Bitcoin Hits Lowest Since October 2017 as Bitcoin Cash Drops 40 Percent

A “panicked” twenty-four hours in cryptocurrency markets saw Bitcoin (BTC) hit fresh lows not seen in over a year Nov. 20 as assets across the board shed millions.

Data from Cointelegraph’s price tracker, Coin360, CoinMarketCap, and Bitcointicker captured frenetic activity into Tuesday as BTC/USD dropped up to 17 percent, at one point reaching $4,237.

Market visualization from Coin360

Bitcoin’s daily losses currently total 15.5 percent after a correction to around $4,500, while the situation remains highly volatile as the pair tests new resistance levels.

Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Bitcoin Price Index

The events mark a continuation of the unsettled conditions sparked Nov. 15 when altcoin Bitcoin Cash (BCH) experienced a contentious hard fork, which has since resulted in the emergence of two separate competing chains.

While BCH initially held onto much of its value, the 24 hours to press time saw a U-turn for investors, BCH/USD shedding almost 40 percent to test support at $200.

While BCH firmly took the lead as the worst performer of the top twenty cryptoassets, others also suffered heavy losses.

Ethereum (ETH) significantly widened its gap in market cap with Ripple (XRP), cementing its position as now the third-largest cryptocurrency. ETH/USD daily losses were circling 15 percent at press time, compared with XRP/USD’s 6.2 percent.

Ethereum 7-day price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Ethereum Price Index

Elsewhere, multiple assets lost in excess of 17 percent on the day, while Tezos (XTZ) and Binance Coin (BNB) shed almost 20 percent. Even stablecoin Tether (USDT) is currently down about 2 percent over a 24 hour period.

While commentators took a broadly pragmatic approach to the downturn, talk on social media has nonetheless returned to the topic of when BTC in particular will “botto”’ in USD terms.

Various sources continue to claim that major support lies around $4,000, while if this is broken, $3,000 should mark a definitive barrier.

“People have panicked,” crypto enthusiast John McAfee wrote on Twitter, summarizing his thoughts.

At press time, total market cap is around $146 billion, down from its weekly high of around $212 billion — total market cap was last at $146 billion on Oct. 6, 2017.

Total market cap since October 2017. Source: CoinMarketCap