The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price has slipped again, down 2.4% over the past 24 hours to US$33,948 (AU$48,177).
That puts the world's biggest crypto by market cap down 29% since 1 January. And investors who bought on 10 November last year, when the Bitcoin price hit all-time highs, will be nursing losses of 51%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
With the world's first digital token trading at its lowest level since 24 January, what's going on?
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Cryptos are broadly trading in line with risk assets
Crypto enthusiasts had been hoping that digital assets might offer a hedge against inflation and other macro forces that can roil share markets.
But Bitcoin's 'digital gold' billing has failed to live up to those hopes this year.
While gold prices have come back sharply from their March peak, the yellow metal remains up 2.6% in 2022, compared to the 29% loss in the Bitcoin price.
Indeed, cryptos have been behaving much more like risk assets than haven assets. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, for example, is also down 23.3% year-to-date.
What next for the Bitcoin price?
Commenting on the outlook for the Bitcoin price, Rick Bensignor of Bensignor Investment Strategies said (quoted by Bloomberg), "Bitcoin did not hold key support and now has upped chances for a large drop."
According to Bensignor, referring to the token's trading levels:
Last week the weekly cloud's lagging line did not hold above the bottom of its cloud at $36,870. I warned that that cloud breach could easily and quickly lead to a $10,000 drop. The bulk of crypto holders are 'hopers', and they will sit on their longs regardless of what price action suggests.
Katie Stockton, managing partner at Fairlead Strategies, points to cryptos' tendency to track alongside share markets as offering some hope for a bounce in the Bitcoin price.
"Bitcoin has no counter-trend signals at this time, but the equity market does look poised to rebound next week, which we hope will carry over to cryptocurrencies," she said.
