The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is taking another tumble today.
The world's first and biggest crypto has been under steady selling pressure since notching new record highs in early October.
At the time of writing on Monday morning, Bitcoin is trading for US$93,701 (AU$143,779), down 1.9% since this time yesterday. This sees the token commanding a current market cap of US$1.86 trillion.
While that's still an eye-popping valuation, the Bitcoin price is now down a painful 25.4% since hitting an all-time high of US$126,198 on 7 October, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
And it sees the token's 12-month gains pared down to 3.5%, slightly underperforming the 3.8% one-year gains delivered by the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).
Bitcoin, and a handful of other cryptos, were among the biggest beneficiaries following Donald Trump's sweeping US presidential election win. Trump is a strong advocate of cryptocurrencies. In March, he signed an order to establish a strategic US crypto reserve.
So, what's going on with the price collapse?
Image source: Getty Images
What the experts are saying about the slumping Bitcoin price
According to Matthew Hougan, chief investment officer for Bitwise Asset Management (quoted by Bloomberg), "The general market is risk-off. Crypto was the canary in the coal mine for that, it was the first to flinch."
Indeed, while the Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) is still up 21.9% over 12 months, the tech-heavy US index is down 4.4% from its own October record closing highs.
"The sentiment in crypto retail is pretty negative," Hougan added. "They don't want to live through another 50% pullback. People are front running that by stepping out of the market."
Hougan also said that he views the Bitcoin price retreat as a buying opportunity.
Jake Kennis, senior research analyst at Nansen, noted (quoted by Bloomberg):
The selloff is a confluence of profit-taking by LTHs [long-term holders], institutional outflows, macro uncertainty, and leveraged longs getting wiped out. What is clear is that the market has temporarily chosen a downward direction after a long period of consolidation/ranging.
Chris Newhouse, director of research at Ergonia, reminded crypto investors that the material price swings we're seeing over the past month are par for the course in the world of crypto investing.
"The markets are always an ebb and flow, and cyclicality in crypto is nothing new," he said.
Taking a step back, the Bitcoin price remains up 462% over five years.
What about Ethereum?
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), the world's second biggest crypto with a market cap of US$373 billion, has also not been spared the selling pressure that's hit the Bitcoin price.
The Ethereum price is down 2.1% over 24 hours at US$3,091.
That sees the Ethereum price down 37.6% since hitting its own all-time high of US$4,954 on 25 August.
