A confluence of factors:<p>1. China cracking down harder: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/01/16/business/16reuters-china-bitcoin.html?partner=IFTTT" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/01/16/business/16reuter...</a><p>2. South Korea cut off access to banks by cryptocurrency exchanges in December, and access to exchanges by foreign traders. As a result the prices in the country spiked, and the largest price aggregator CoinMarketCap removed Korean exchanges from the index because they were skewing the averages. This caused ~$150B to appear to have suddenly vanished, gapping prices down. This is when the sell-off began in earnest. Then recently the South Korean Minister of Justice said he wants to shut down exchanges, but then the PM says that would require a vote in the National Assembly on new legislation. They are consulting with Japan (who are positive on crypto) and China (who are not) to create a new regulatory framework. <a href="http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180116000817" rel="nofollow">http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180116000817</a><p>3. Indonesia just banned cryptocurrency transactions, stating only their native currency is legal tender. <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/01/15/bank-indonesia-police-prevent-bitcoin-transactions-in-bali.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/01/15/bank-indonesia...</a><p>4. France's central bank has been whining about cryptocurrency for some time and finally convinced the Minister of Finance to make a public statement and authorize a draft of new regulations. <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/905169/bitcoin-France-China-South-Korea-ban-illegal-activities-Bruno-Le-Maire" rel="nofollow">https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/905169/bitcoin-France...</a><p>5. A speculative theory: the Bitcoin futures contracts are about to expire, and some investors will have bet on lower BTC prices. There could be large market players deliberately pushing prices down to meet those futures bets. Or just market makers wanting to get in at a lower price point.
The December 23 'collapse' so far was bigger, however there is some significant market momentum which I found easier to grasp here: <a href="https://cryptowat.ch/" rel="nofollow">https://cryptowat.ch/</a>
This site lists 1450 different cryptocurrencies. I wonder how many of them can be used as actual currency. Bitcoin adoption has stalled and at least one big vendor (valve/steam) dropped it because of the price instability.
Novice crypto question... I read a comment here about 1 month ago someone predicted a correction of BTC value to mind january because some coins would "expire" then. I'm trying to find the comment now to learn more. Anyone have any insight what I'm talking about?
Coinmarketcap shows prices in USD while most cryptos are trading against BTC, so what you’re seeing is mainly the drop of BTC against the dollar. Coins are also dropping against BTC of course, but not all of them, you can see that in an exchange like binance
coinmarketcap doesn't show all the price changes that its API offers.<p>Here is another view on 1h, 24h and 7d price change of the top 10 coins:<p><a href="http://cryptoport.net/sample-portfolio" rel="nofollow">http://cryptoport.net/sample-portfolio</a>
They were, but, in the last few minutes the last hour numbers have all gone green. They were definitely all red when I checked this half an hour ago.<p>I think the whole thing is a scam and that it is incredible the willingness of people to be scammed. Yes I see merit in a decent online currency that works like cash but securely, however, these crypto things are speculative tulip stocks in a book-keeper's window and the people that have bought into it are very much in a cult of their own devising. It is comical. When fools rush in.
How much are cryptocurrencies are used for actual exchange of goods? I.e. for actual shopping and commerce? Because it seems to me that the most prominent group of users are investors and miners; i.e. those who only buy, stack and sell crypto coins, and those who produce them. And I've read here in some past threads that it's not that easy to liquidify your crypto coins.
Market is so driven by news which has 0 credible sources it's amazing. I consider this a sales period as it's just shaking out the weak hands, the ones that are here for the quick buck. This was dubbed as "Alt coin season sales" but make no mistake, the tokens which hold no technical value will dissapear.
Just to clarify the Bloomberg article: OTC/P2P trading is not banned in China, but match-making services are more similar to a private exchanges. It's those match-making services that are now being targetted in China. It's about unlicensed trading, not about blockchain / tokens.<p>NEO = REGULATION
I went and looked at the ETH price over the full history in log view. From that perspective today's move is a typical little jiggle.<p><a href="https://imgur.com/13J5kkC" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/13J5kkC</a>
It seems impossible to understand the fluctuations of the market as it is now. Finding no specific article that explains what this could be due to. Should probably just stick to regular investments.
am I in a filter bubble?
The OP to me shows bitcoin UP 3% whereas <a href="https://cryptowat.ch/" rel="nofollow">https://cryptowat.ch/</a> shows it DOWN 15%<p>edit: finally, after 2h delay!