Selling intensified for digital currencies on Friday, as the price of the No.1 cryptocurrency bitcoin pushed below $9,000.
The price of a single bitcoin BTCUSD, -4.50% fell 4.8% to $8,847.85, but bounced off a low of $8,370.80, according to CoinDesk. In a week, bitcoin has dropped around 20%.
Losses were widespread across cryptocurrencies. Ether was down 4.5% to $671.66, bitcoin cash slid 6.4% to $970.66 and Litecoin fell 6.2% to $166.22, according to CoinDesk. Ripple tumbled 10% to $0.78, according to CoinMarketCap.
The moves build on sharp drops on Thursday, which some suggested were due to technical factors.
“If prices firm up over the next few days, then we are back on track and higher prices are ahead of us. But if we cannot bounce back over the next couple of days, we might test lower prices before the bigger rebound resumes,” said Jani Ziedins on his Cracked Market blog.
Crucial level for $BTC to hold. Bulls need to make a stand here. Strong red bar down day Friday with close below 8700 would complete H&S failure with target at 3100. pic.twitter.com/wun5TXrFPH
— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) March 9, 2018
Others suggested regulatory worries could be rattling investors. On Wednesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that warned investors about investing in non-regulated and exchanges and called for tighter restrictions across all trading avenues.
And Japan suspended two cryptocurrency exchanges, in a move aimed at boosting security in the market after the theft of millions of dollars in digital currency earlier in the year.
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Futures markets tracked spot prices lower. The Cboe Global Markets March contract XBTH8, -7.20% was down 7.7% to $8,710, while the CME Group Inc. March contract BTCH8, -7.29% slid 6.7% to $8,765.