Eventually bitcoin ends up being a victim of its own volatility. Thanks also to some wave of sales linked to derivatives, the general climate of uncertainty and escape from investor risk has hit the number one cryptocurrency, which lost a fifth of its value on Saturday.
Bitcoin thus reached a minimum in Asia at 42,300 dollars, with a decline of about 20%, then recovering up to 48 thousand, in any case down by almost 13% over 24 hours. The trend of ether was similar, which collapsed by over 17% and then recovered 4,000, with a loss reduced to just under 10%.
To weigh on the entire cryptocurrency sector is the progressive affirmation of risk aversion on financial markets in the face of the uncertainty triggered by the Omicron variant of the virus that has hit the world and by the unknown attitude of the Fed in the face of the reappearance of the ‘inflation. According to market sources, the slip was also caused by a large sell order that triggered a wave of liquidation of leveraged positions in the derivatives market.
In the afternoon, the announcement of new purchases by El Salvador, which in September introduced bitcoin as legal tender, helped to raise prices. The president of the Central American country, the populist Nayib Bukele, announced via Twitter that he had bought another 150 bitcoins at an average price of 48,760 dollars: “El Salvador has bought at the lows,” he said.
It is not the first time that El Salvador has entered the market to buy hands down by raising prices. And acting in the same way as a traditional central bank for a currency born without central authority and without governance.