UPDATE: Bitcoin falls again, nearing four-month low

Original Source 2018-06-12 00:06

The selloff in cryptocurrencies resumed Tuesday afternoon, with most major coins trading lower.

After shedding more than 10% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-drops-more-than-10-after-south-korean-exchange-hacked-2018-06-10) Sunday, bitcoin, the world’s biggest digital currency, is set for another losing day, trading below $6,500 and nearing a four-month low. The price of a single bitcoin hit an intraday low of $6,455.92 and was worth $6,520.66, down 3.5% since 5 p.m. Monday, Eastern time, on the Kraken crypto exchange.

Taking stock of their losses, crypto prices began Tuesday in quiet fashion. “There’s a lot of wait and see now. Since then [the selloff Sunday] volumes have receded and at this level there is a general lack of interest,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro.

However, the interest resumed, and it was from the selling community.

By mid-afternoon, the value of all cryptocurrencies had fallen to $282 billion, its lowest level since April 12, according to data from Coinmarketcap (https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/).

Read:Opinion: This is all it would take for bitcoin to become a worthless cryptocurrency (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-all-it-would-take-for-bitcoin-to-become-a-worthless-cryptocurrency-2018-04-12)

Ethereum classic spikes

The one bright spot for cryptocurrency owners has been Ethereum classic, which rose by as much as 25% Tuesday, after news that Coinbase, one of the biggest U.S.based digital exchanges, said it was in the process of adding the digital currency to its trading platform. In a blog post, Coinbase said it was in the engineering stage and expects it to be launched in the “next few months.”

Ethereum classic was created in July 2015 as a result of a hard fork by Ethereum. A hard fork is when a single cryptocurrency splits into two because of a change in the rules used by nodes to validate transactions and not all users agree on the change.

According to data from CoinMarketCap (https://coinmarketcap.com/), Ethereum classic is the 18th-largest digital currency, with a market cap of $1.6 billion.

Altcoins resume move lower

Coins other than bitcoin, known as altcoins, have given up early morning gains. Ether has fallen 4% to $494.92; bitcoin cash is the worst performer, down 6.7% at $864.40; Litecoin is down 5.7% at $99.11; and Ripple’s XRP coin has lost 4.5% at 55 cents.

Bitcoin futures didn’t fair any better. The Cboe June contractclosed down 3.2% at $6,535, while the CME June contract finished Tuesday down 3.7% at $6,500.

CryptoWatch:Check bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices, performance and market capitalization–all on one (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-tumbles-over-10-after-south-korean-exchange-hack-2018-06-11)

-Aaron Hankin; 415-439-6400; [email protected]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-12-18 1713ET

Original Source