Bitcoin plunges by 20% as crypto market is liquidated

Bitcoin’s value went down by a fifth on Saturday as a combination of factors resulted in a mass sell-off in the crypto market.

Digital gold stands at $48,428 at the time of writing after traders took profits as fear over the wider economy grips the world.

Ether, the token connected to the Ethereum network, fared similarly, down by over 8% and hovering just above $4,000.

The market cap of the nearly 12,000 crypto coins tracked by Coingecko has fallen by close to 15% to $2.34trn.

Only a month ago, as Bitcoin reached a record $69,000, the same metric made it as high as $3trn.

The crypto dip follows a highly volatile week in traditional financial equities.

After data showed US job growth had slowed down last month, as well as the uncertainty caused by the Omicron variant, global equities tumbled on Friday.

The Bitcoin dip goes against the expectations of a number of well known analysts, many of whom have been talking up the possibility of a surge above $100,000 in 2021.

However, rather than new all-time-highs, investors have been presented with an opportunity to buy-the-dip, which is always easier said than done.