Bitcoin (BTC) is down 7.5% in the last 12 hours, falling to 6-month lows from $43,328 at 4pm UTC yesterday to $38,258 at 4am UTC today.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $38,761 according to Cointelegraph.
Today's price crash has so far wiped out about $50 billion from the broader crypto market. The total crypto market capitalization has been slowly declining since early November 2021, when it peaked at $3 trillion.
Without a single explosive news to blame for many, investors are left wondering what caused the price action. Some pointed to macro indicators, with tech stocks on the Nasdaq entering "correction territory" and several interest rate hikes expected in 2022.
But Bitcoin moves in mysterious ways. It could easily be the news that the Bitcoin bull Raoul Pal has apparently sold all his Bitcoin and only one left...
The capital of Rekt Twitter account noted that the current pattern unfolding "shares some similarities with price action at the end of September 2021." At the time, Bitcoin fell multiple times from around $52,000 to around $41,300 from September to October. It proceeded to climb as high as $69,000 in early November.
The InvestetAnswers account with over 85,000 followers suggested that bears โneed Bitcoin below $41,000 to pocket $132 million in profits.โ
#BTC 4% more, 9% less, all in 12 hours. welcome to #OptionsExpiration - The bears are in control. they need #bitcoin less than $41,000 to pocket $132 million in winnings. Seat belts please or this! Welcome to Friday expiration. pic.twitter.com/6ybAxjM5sA
โ InvestAnswers (@invest_answers) January 21, 2022
BTC is not the only crypto dipping into Ether today (ETH), BinanceCoin (bnb), solana (SUN), Cardan (THERE ARE) and Ripple (XRP) have experienced severe corrections between -6.3% and -10% in the last 12 hours.
Related: BTC Likely To Repeat Q4 2020 Move: 5 Things To Watch In Bitcoin This Week
Among the top ten coins by market cap, ADA saw the biggest losses overall as it fell 10% to $1.21. buggy today launch of SundaeSwap didn't seem to help things.
Forbes Contributor Billy Bambrough suggested in an article today that investors have been unsettled by recent announcements by the Federal Reserve Bank that it would shrink its balance sheet and raise interest rates.
