On Saturday, Bitcoin fell below $5,000 as crypto markets suffered a $13 billion sell-off. In one day, Bitcoin lost 7.5 percent from close-to-close and more than 11 percent from the high to the low. No fundamental reason was known. The sell-off was spurred by profit-taking, as part of a correction, after the price advanced 21 percent higher than its uptrend line, the farthest distance from the line that marks the angle of ascent since August 17, when it was 25 percent higher than the uptrend line. It was followed by a near-20 percent decline over the next 6 days.
On Monday, The People’s Bank of China published a statement on its website that it completed an investigation into ICOs and found them illegal. China has forbidden the transaction of digital tokens as currency on the market and banks are prohibited from providing ICO services in the future. Starting immediately, new offerings will incur strict punishments, and past offerings must be returned. Token financing and trading platforms are prohibited from converting coins into fiat currencies.
Bitcoin dropped about 8.5 percent yesterday, extending its decline another 5.2 percent today, as of 2:00 EDT.
All told, Bitcoin fell 20 percent from its September 2, all-time-high. It's the sort of benchmark decline that turns a bull market into a bear market.