Notoriously volatile asset, which has a record of massive downside slumps following a stratospheric run-up, touched a low of nearly 28% beneath its record high of $41,962.36. New investors in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, a decline of that magnitude would likely represent a brutal hit to their digital-asset portfolio. Bitcoin is one of the more turbulent assets, given its propensity to wax and wane in price, is even a bit of an understatement when the digital currency is compared against traditional assets. The course of the past 11 years, bitcoin prices have seen 722 instances where prices saw a change of 5% or greater, 227 instances in which it swung by at least 10% and 47 times that it has moved by at least 20%.
FCA’s commentary is unlikely to persuade those who believe bitcoin is the future of finance but the moves of late for the crypto highlight the fear that the surge in its price bears many of the hallmarks of an asset bubble. Bitcoin’s move also came as U.S. equities slumped, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 0.39%, the S&P 500 index SPX, 0.32% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 0.64%, all trading under pressure after putting in record highs. Complaints about trouble accessing a popular digital-asset trading platform, Coinbase also was being credited for some of the weakness in bitcoins.