Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) has hit its lowest level again this year. Is it the beginning of the end for Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)? I bet that question has been asked many times over in 2018.

Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) gained house-hold name status around Thanksgiving last year. That was the kind of year Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) had in 2017.

Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)’s Lowest Level

But now, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) is down more than 30% since Thanksgiving 2017.

But that’s not as bad as being down 60% on the year, 18% this week alone, and hitting the lowest level of 2018 today. At the time of writing, BTC is selling for $5,148 and is down nearly 9% on the day.

As is the industry standard, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) tends to lead the pack; other major cryptocurrencies are down, with Ethereum (available on Coinbase) and Ripple (available on Binance) losing over 12% and 4.5% respectively. In fact, this loss is so significant for Ethereum (available on Coinbase) that Ripple (available on Binance) has just overtaken it in terms of market cap.

Now Ripple (available on Binance) is the second most valuable cryptocurrency in the world. Ethereum (available on Coinbase) is third.

All in a week’s work.

Calm Before the Storm

Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)’s lowest level came unexpectedly—BTC had remained around the $6,400 range for most of October despite the rest of the global markets going through sell-offs.

It was around this time last year when Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) began its epic rise, first topping $10,000 at the end of November and was worth almost $20,000 per coin by Christmas.

The CBOE brought in the first Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) futures trading platform on December 10th, but prices hit their peak the same day the CME began Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) futures trading on December 17th.

The futures market gave investors the ability to bet on the decline of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) price. It was the ultimate gambling platform—Bitcoin (available on Coinbase), with a value derived from speculation and nothing tangible, could now make investors even more money by betting on, effectively, market speculation.