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Bitcoin Tumbles More Than 5% in Two Hours

Bitcoin Tumbles More Than 5% in Two Hours
Bitcoin Tumbles More Than 5% in Two Hours

Digital-currency prices slumped in New York trading as the price of the No. 1 digital currency faces technical headwinds above $7,000, market participants said.

The price of bitcoin fell from above $7,150 to a low of $6,628.91 in just over two hours, in early US trading hours, erasing all previous gains. A single bitcoin was last changing hands at $6,639.29, down 5.5%, making it the worst performing major virtual currency on the session, MarketWatch reported.

“It remains the technical story (sell pressure above $7,000), we have not seen any change in the fundamentals despite the move lower,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro.

Greenspan added that the majority of the Monday morning’s selloff was on western exchanges. “There was very little out of Japan or South Korea.”

Gemini, the digital-currency exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, announced Monday that it would be launching a block trading arm.

A block trade is where a customer places an order (buy or sell) with a specific size and price, which is then taken ‘off-line’ and negotiated with other block orders. Block trades are popular with investors looking to execute large trades with as little slippage as possible.

“Market makers only receive quantity, minimum quantity, and the collar price—they do not receive any other information (i.e., side, price limit, etc.) related to the block order. If a market maker agrees to “make a market” that satisfies the indication of interest, the block order will be filled, said Gemini in a press release.

Bitcoin has weighed on other digital currencies. Bitcoin cash is lower by 3.4%, last trading at $631.71, Litecoin is down 3.3% at $113.53 and Ripple is at 48 cents, down 3.1% on the day.

Despite the cash selling, futures finished in the green. The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s April contract closed up 0.5% at $6,635 and the CME Group Inc. April contract finished at $6,675, up 0.7%.

  Cryptocurrency in Drug Trafficking Heist

A money laundering scheme that laundered €8 million ($9.86 million) by selling drugs using credit cards and cryptocurrencies was busted in Spain by the Spanish Civil Guard with the help of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, or Europol.

According to Europol, the criminals began using credit cards before turning to digital currencies to increase anonymity when shifting proceeds between various currencies into Colombian pesos.

“Once the criminals realized that cash withdrawals and bank operations were easy to track, they changed their laundering methods and turned to cryptocurrencies, mainly bitcoin,” said Europol.

Eleven individuals were arrested more than 130 others are under investigation.

  Ethereum

Ether, which was the worst performing major digital currency in March, is showing some signs of bottoming, says one technical analyst. After dropping below $400, this support level is now resistance and as it struggles to make another push lower, it may soon have something to cling on to.

“Over the past several days, it (Ether) has consolidated tightly around $400 and now it looks like it wants to push higher,” wrote Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at Forex.com.

The price of Ether remains around the $400 level, last trading at $396.26, down 0.8% on the day.

 

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