- The bitcoin had returned below the $ 4000 level on Friday morning.
- According to one analyst, the sell-off has "largely reflected" what is happening in the stock market recently.
- Bitcoin was down 80% from its all-time high.
- Watch the live bitcoin trade.
Bitcoin was again beaten below the $ 4000 level at the start of Friday.
The largest cryptocurrency for market value fell 7.55% to a minimum of $ 3.867. It was lower for a second session in a row, and almost wiped out Wednesday's gain by over 10% – its biggest daily progress since April.
Also the bitcoins peer XRP (-5.56%), ethereum (-3.2%), bitcoin cash (-3.8%) and litecoin (-5.97%) were lower.
"Cryptographic markets have largely mirrored what we have seen recently from equities," said Mati Greenspan, eToro senior market analyst. "It seems that investors are simply more risk-averse than they have been in recent years: this is probably the result of monetary tightening by global central banks."
It was a difficult year for bitcoin investors, who saw prices rise above 2,000% to almost $ 20,000 per currency last year. Bitcoin expired in December and has since suffered a downward spiral.
Prices had been stuck between $ 6,000 and $ 8,000 since mid-May, but the cryptocurrency was under intense pressure in mid-November. It was then that technical sales pushed the bitcoin price to a minimum of $ 3,522, the weakest since September 2017 and down more than 80% from its peak.
"For bitcoin, we saw a rebound in the first support level of $ 3,500," said Greenspan. "We could end up testing this level once again over the weekend."
He added: "The key level of support is $ 3,000 per currency: this psychological level has played a significant role in the 2017 bull's race and will therefore be closely monitored in the coming days".
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