Chronicle Editor
FOR the first time since 2015, the crypto-currency began a new year by declining, extending its slide from a record $19 511 reached on December 18, 2017.
The virtual coin traded at $13,624.56 as of 5pm in New York on Monday, down 4.8 percent from Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s also a fall from the $14,156 it hit on Sunday, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks daily prices. The crypto-currency fluctuated in early Asian trading yesterday.
Bitcoin got off to a much stronger start last year, and then kept that momentum going, helping to create a global frenzy for crypto-currencies. It rose 3.6 percent on the first day of 2017 to $998, data from coinmarketcap.com show. It ended the year up more than 1,300 percent.
That rally drew a growing number of competitors and last month brought bitcoin to Wall Street in the form of futures contracts.
It reached the December 18 peak hours after CME Group Inc. debuted its derivatives agreements, which some traders said would encourage short position-taking. — Bloomberg
derick.khumalo