For the first time in a year, the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency has fallen below the $4,000 USD mark. This is in keeping with the fall pattern that the cryptocurrency market has been taking for the past three months.

Yesterday at around 16:30 UTC Bitcoin faltered below the $4,000 USD mark and is dwindling at $3,900 USD. The fall of Bitcoin, as it usually does, has notoriously pulled the other cryptocurrencies down with it too. With the market and its individual cryptocurrencies booking losses of over 10% respectively.

Bitcoin alone has lost 14.81% in the last twenty-four hours. Among the top ten cryptocurrencies in the market, other than Bitcoin, Tether is the only coin that has sustained single-digit losses. Tether over the past twenty-four hours has lost 0.20% of its market value.

First Time This Year

This is the first time that Bitcoin has gone below the $4,000 USD mark in over a year. The last time that the Bitcoin value went under $4,000 USD was in September last year, right before the bull that took Bitcoin right up to $19,000 USD.

The cryptocurrency market is currently facing one of its worst downward falls because of many reasons. One of the major reasons that triggered Bitcoin’s fall was the BCH split. Another factor that has affected the cryptocurrency market over the last month is the SEC’s crackdown on the ICO sector of the cryptocurrency space.

While these two events have majorly affected the functioning of the cryptocurrency market, there have been mass sell-offs by the community driven by the fear that the cryptocurrencies will fall still.

Expected Downfall

The downward trend of the Bitcoin has come as a surprise to many people in the community. And has further promoted sell-offs. But the seasoned Bitcoin trader was well-aware that this downfall would come right after the bull in 2017.

From a broad perspective, since Bitcoin peaked at $19,000 USD, the currency has been on a downward trend. And this was what was expected because; what goes up must come down.

The downward trend is far from over. With the predicted bottom line of this particular downward trend being $3,700 USD, Bitcoin is expected to fall further. The worse news, however, is the fact that this downfall is not expected to end with this year. It is, rather forecasted to go on until the second quarter of the coming year before it sees any change in the other direction.

Signs of Reprieve

One of the major reasons being held accountable for the fall of Bitcoin and the other altcoins in the market is the BCH split. Which resulted in the BCH blockchain being split into two and sparked a huge hash war community-wide.

This resulted in the Bitcoin market taking a huge beating in terms of price and market capitalisation. But the good news is that the hash war has finally ended with BCH SV calling for a truce.

The market is expected to make a long drawn out recovery. The recovery is expected nowhere before the second quarter of 2019 and if the predictions can be given any truth, 2019 is going to be a better year for the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $3,710 USD.  

Good Read Bitcoin Closes Gap Between Self and MasterCard in Daily Transfers

Ramaa Mohan