@@ -1,1 +1,1 @@ - +<br>By Tom Wilson and Tommy Wilkes<br> <br>LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Bitcoin slumped on Tuesday to its lowest this year, tumbling as much as 10 percent to breach $4,300 and taking losses in the world's best-known digital coin to 25 percent within a week.<br> <br>Other smaller coins also skidded sharply as a broader cryptocurrency sell-off, said by traders and market makers to be rooted in heavy selling at leveraged Asian exchanges, gathered steam.<br> <br>The fall followed a sudden plunge last week that shook bitcoin out of a period of relative stability, where prices had hovered around the $6,500 mark for several months.<br> <br>Bitcoin sunk as far as $4,327, its lowest since October 2017.<br><br>By mid-afternoon, it was trading around $4,750 on the Bitstamp exchange.<br> <br>"We'd been waiting for a break-out," said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro. "When you have the price moving so steadily you had lots of stop-loss orders building up - and now you are seeing them being liquidated."<br> <br>Ripple's XRP and [http://forexbinaryoption.pw/ how to profit from binary options] Ethereum's ether, the second and third-largest coins, fell as much as 14 and [http://forexbinaryoption.pw/ forexbinaryoption.pw] 16 percent respectively before clawing back losses in U.S.<br><br>trading hours.<br> <br>Tuesday's falls coincided with broader drops in financial markets. European shares fell as poor retail results and weakness in Apple Inc dragged down Wall Street.<br> <br>Bitcoin has plummeted over 75 percent this year from a peak of $20,000 touched in December as retail investors piled into a one of the largest bubbles in history.<br> <br>"CASINO MENTALITY"<br> <br>Traders and market makers blamed bitcoin's slide on heavy selling at leveraged exchanges in Asia such as Hong Kong-based OKEx and Bitmex.<br><br>Few exchanges in the West lend bitcoin to traders, [http://forexbinaryoption.pw/ cftc binary options brokers list] making the Asian venues popular with speculators.<br> <br>"The presence of leverage makes day traders attracted to Asian markets," said Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis Global Trading in New York, one of the biggest over-the-counter trading desks.<br> <br>"Folks who are risking 100X type of leverage, it´s really difficult to think of that as an investment - it´s a casino mentality."<br> <br>Others blamed fears that last week's "hard fork" in bitcoin cash, where a software upgrade split the fourth-biggest coin into two separate currencies, could destabilise others.<br> <br>The price of bitcoin tends to be sensitive to debates over how its underlying network evolves.<br><br>Last year the suspension of hard fork planned by major developers and investors proved a major catalyst to its breakneck rise.<br> <br>TOUGH BILLING<br> <br>Mainstream investors have stayed clear of bitcoin, with concerns over scant regulatory oversight and undeveloped market infrastructure compounded by frequent swings in price.<br> <br>That lack of involvement has seen bitcoin struggle to live up to its billing as something that will revolutionise world finance.<br><br>Its usage as a payment currency has shrivelled this year.<br> <br>At the same time, bitcoin's plunge in value has calmed the fears of regulators and central bankers that it could one day pose a risk to financial stability.<br> <br>According to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com, the total value of cryptocurrencies is now around $154 billion, down from a peak of around $800 billion in January.<br> <br>Cryptocurrency advocates say bitcoin is still young and price volatility is to be expected.<br><br>Many predict the need for virtual currencies that operate beyond mainstream banking will outlast any short-term price falls.<br> <br>By late afternoon, XRP and ether were trading around $0.45 and $142 respectively on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.<br> <br>"The euphoria has died and prices have consolidated with lower lows and lower highs," said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at Forex.com.<br>"A lot of people have lost interest."<br> <br>(Reporting by Tom Wilson and Tommy Wilkes, Editing by Saikat Chatterjee and Ed Osmond)<br>