Crypto crash continues as bitcoin falls below $18k

New Delhi: Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin dropped below $18,000 per digital coin on Sunday - a massive over 70 per cent drop from its record high of $68,000 in November last year - as mayhem in the crypto market continued.

Overall, the prices of top cryptocurrencies declined as much as 35 per cent last week in the wake of economic recession fears.

The global market cap of cryptocurrencies sank below $850 billion, which recently hovered over $1 trillion.

The second-largest ethereum cryptocurrency fell below $1,000 on Sunday, down nearly 80 per cent since its all-time-high in November last year.

The latest crypto crash is happening as investors are afraid of global macroeconomic conditions and the US Federal Reserve is trying to curb rising inflation. According to analysts, bitcoin may hit a grim $14,000 this year.

The likely bottom range at $14,000 would represent a drop of around 80 per cent for Bitcoin from the $68,000 all-time high.

"In the next 670 days, BTC will capitulate in the next 6 months and hit cycle bottom ($14-21k), then chop around $28-40k in most of 2023 and be at $40k again by next halving," tweeted Venture founder, a contributor at on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant.

According to Coindesk, bitcoin has historically experienced periods of asymptotic price run-ups followed by steep crashes, "typically played out over several months to two years". Cryptocurrency watchers refer to these periods as "cycles".

In 2017, bitcoin reached a then-high of $19,783 in December before falling back down to the four-digits range just one month later.

During the 2013-2014 cycle, bitcoin reached an all-time high of $1,127 at the time, a level that the cryptocurrency successfully defended during its 2018 drawdown.