Bitcoin suffers biggest weekly loss since March 2020.

Discussion • 2021/05/02 • by

The price of bitcoin temporarily dropped below the psychologically important $50,000 level on Friday, putting the digital asset on track for its worst weekly performance since March, as traders appeared unable to shake worries over a potential rise in the U.S. capital-gains tax rate for wealthy investors.

Bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.23% closed at $50,619.83 at 5 p.m. Eastern Friday, after trading below $48,000 to touch a level last seen in early March, according to CoinDesk. The digital asset fell 18.3% for the week, its biggest such fall since the week ended March 13, 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data Group.

The losses for bitcoin represent around a 21% drop from a recent peak of $64,829 for the cryptocurrency. A 20% drop meets the widely accepted definition of a bear market. Bitcoin saw a sharp slide last weekend, though the cryptocurrency’s volatility mean slides of more than 10% are not unusual. Fears of increased regulation were at the heart of last Sunday’s pullback.