The price of bitcoin is slipping extending a poor run for the digital currency.

Bitcoin is down almost 6 per cent to $US6313 over the past 24 hours (to 10.30am AEST). The cryptocurrency has fallen 17% over the past week.

All other major cryptocurrencies are down between 6 per cent and 16 per cent over the past 24 hours (see below).

The latest slump appears to have been triggered by a US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) announcement late on Tuesday, analysts at the London Block Exchange said overnight.

The regulator announced it is postponing a decision on whether to approve or deny a bitcoin ETF product from exchange holding company CBOE until September.

The market has been waiting for a long time for a regulated ETF product to hit the market as traders believe it will bring new money into the market. The postponement appears to have put off many bulls who had bet on an authorisation this week from the SEC.

Matthew Newton, an analyst at trading platform eToro, said in an email: “A green light for the bitcoin ETF would fire the starting gun on a race among institutional investors to cash-in on this new product. The market is therefore rightly frustrated by the delay to the decision.”

The price of bitcoin over the past year

Other major digital tokens are also under pressure over the past 24 hours (to Thursday 10.30am AEST):

  • Ethereum is down 6% to $US358
  • Ripple/XRP is down 12% to $US0.34
  • Bitcoin Cash is down 11% to $US590
  • EOS is down 16% to $US5.65
  • Stellar is down 13% to $US0.20
  • Litecoin is down 7% to $US63

“The crypto market cap lost 20 per cent in the last two weeks, falling from $US300 billion to $US250 billion,” said analysts for FXPro, a London-based foreign exchange broker.

Although analysts remain bullish on the BTC perspectives, currently they warn us to be cautious.

“In the short terms, technical analysis is still on the bears’ side. The benchmark currency [bitcoin] doesn’t have important levels of consolidation near current trading marks.

“It means that after a short pause the bitcoin could slide down to the nearest consolidation level close to $US6,200 mark, and even lower to $US5,800.”

Recent positive news has failed to provide much support for bitcoin.

ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, announced plans earlier in the week to launch a new platform in partnership with Microsoft and Starbucks that aims to bring bitcoin and other digital assets more into the mainstream. It did little to support bitcoin’s price.

A report released on Wednesday found that ICO tokens – digital assets issued by startups to raise cash for projects – had an average loss of 55 per cent in the second quarter, pointing to extended weakness across the sector.

 

This article first appeared on Business Insider Australia, Australia’s most popular business news website. Read the original article. Follow Business Insider on Facebook or Twitter.