Bitcoin reportedly appeared to have a flash crash on Tuesday morning after falling over $600 in a few minutes, but only one index logged the price move.
The digital currency had hit a high of $4,867 early on Monday, CNBC.com reported, citing industry website CoinDesk, its highest since September 2. But the same index showed that it dropped by over $600 to a low of $4,200 at roughly 9:00 a.m. London time, CNBC reported.
It was down some 12 percent for the session but quickly recovered within moments and was trading at $4,787 by 9:10 a.m. London time, CNBC said.
“The CoinDesk bitcoin price index is made up of the average price from four exchanges: Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit, and OKCoin. Other indexes like Brave New Coin's bitcoin liquid index showed no flash crash. Nor did CryptoCompare.com,” CNBC.com reported.
CNBC checked the four exchanges that make up the CoinDesk bitcoin price index, but none showed any sign of a flash crash. CNBC has reached out to CoinDesk to see whether it may have been a problem with its own index.
To be sure, bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency world has drawn scrutiny and suspicion.
"Is cryptocurrency the way of the future? Sure. So is gold. So is paper money. So is electronic money. And we’ll come up with new ways of trading goods and services as well as time goes on," wrote said Newsmax Finance Insider Andrew Packer, editor of the hard-asset-themed Resolute Wealth Letter.
"I don’t see one final currency ruling all. I see, if anything, more diversity of currencies and trading options. Bitcoin is on the vanguard of that. It has its appeal, but it has some serious deficiencies. As long as investors are aware of the good, bad and ugly of any investment, they’re informed enough to make their own decisions," he recently wrote in his blog for Newsmax Finance.
"Right now, I wouldn’t touch bitcoin, given the strength of its current rally. But if it has another crash like it did a few years back, and it likely will given the parabolic move up, count me in for a few more," wrote Packer, who currently writes the Insider Hotline investment advisory.
"There’s nothing wrong with diversifying, and if you own something like Bitcoin in its early stages, even a small stake can create a huge fortune. If it doesn’t work out, then having a small stake means no big losses," wrote Packer, who serves as investment director for the Financial Braintrust.
"As an investor, it’s easier to recover from small losses, not big ones. And given the big swings in bitcoin’s price lately, it’s not the kind of asset for the faint of heart to own." wrote Packer, who writes the monthly newsletter Crisis Point Investor.
(Newsmax wires services contributed to this report).
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