Bitcoin drops 5% to less than $90,000

LONDON:

Bitcoin fell below $90,000 on Monday as a sell-off gathered pace following the steepest monthly decline since mid-2021 and as renewed risk aversion drove investors out of stocks and digital assets.

The world's largest cryptocurrency fell 6.1% at one point. By 1120 GMT, it was down 5.2% at $86,461, set for its biggest one-day fall in a month and hovering near last month's eight-month low of $80,553.

Bitcoin shed more than $18,000 in November as a record amount of money rushed out of the market, making this its largest dollar loss since May 2021, when a number of cryptocurrencies collapsed.

Given its relatively short lifespan, there is not much in the way of seasonality to guide traders' expectations for how bitcoin usually behaves in December. On average, bitcoin has tended to rise around 9.7% in December, ranking it third in terms of performance, with October being the strongest month, with an average gain of 16.6%, and September, the weakest month, with an average loss of 3.5%.