Bitcoin’s Latest Price Crash May Be Over. But There’s Still Reason to Worry

Bitcoin’s latest crash may be over after the value of the cryptocurrency stabilized Thursday.

The plunge began Sunday, with several factors possibly feeding into it, including a cyber-heist that hit South Korea’s Coinrail cryptocurrency exchange—even though no bitcoins were stolen—and a U.S. regulatory probe into Bitcoin price manipulation.

Bitcoin’s price fell from more than $ 7,600 on Sunday to little over $ 6,100 on Wednesday, marking a four-month low for a virtual currency that has already fallen precipitously from its almost-$ 20,000 high last December.

However, it seems that was the bottom for now. Early Thursday, the price jumped up above $ 6,500, and at the time of writing it seems to be holding at that level.

The cryptocurrency-whisperers over at Coindesk reckon that, even if there is a brief rally now, the market remains bearish and Bitcoin may still fall below $ 6,000. That last happened back in February.

It’s never easy to clearly divine the reasons why Bitcoin’s value goes where it goes—which may be why regulators are worried about price manipulation—but selloffs tend to follow prominent hacks and regulatory clampdowns.

One event that Bitcoin investors might want to keep an eye on is the next move towards coordinated international cryptocurrency regulations. G20 finance ministers said in March that would by July publish recommendations on the issue, based on close examination of the evolving market.