The flagship cryptocurrency had plunged as low as $3,456 on Coinbase, a move that came less than one day after BTC/USD fell below support at $4,000 for the first time in 2018.
Declining to that mark catalyzed a moderate recovery, however, and a surge in buy volume immediately carried bitcoin back toward $3,900, providing it with the necessary footing to make the ascent back to $4,000, which it briefly accomplished shortly before 21:00 UTC. One hour later, BTC/USD set an intraday high at $4,120, though it has since slipped back to a present value of $3,989 as of the time of writing at 22:55 UTC.
The recovery brought bitcoin’s market cap back to $70 billion, representing a 24-hour increase of 3.26 percent. The majority of other large-cap cryptocurrencies have posted small gains as well, though ripple (XRP) and bitcoin cash each remain in the red. The index’s top performer is seventh-ranked litecoin, which is up 5.18 percent for the day to $30.73.
It remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of a true recovery or just another dead cat bounce. As CCN reported, a significant portion of the recent selling has been attributed to crypto investors who purchased BTC in early 2017 when it was trading near $1,000. Taking that into consideration, Genesis Trading CEO Michael Moro said that he expects the bitcoin price to bottom around $3,000, meaning that the market could have another 25 percent drop on the horizon.