Bitcoin Drops $100 in One Hour, Slowing Torrid Price Growth

The price of bitcoin took a sudden nosedive at 18:40 UTC today, dropping $100 from $1,594 to $1,495 over the course of just an hour of trading.

At press time, the price of bitcoin had recovered to $1,511 on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), which charts the average price of bitcoin across major exchanges.

Still, the decline put a damper on what was the technology's run-up to $1,600, as the price peaked just shy of that milestone. Despite the declines, however, bitcoin was still up 2% at time of writing, less than a day after crossing the $1,500 line.

CoinDesk reported earlier today that bitcoin had climbed above $1,500 for the first time ever, buoyed by bullishness among the world's digital currency traders. Positive sentiment out of Japan in the wake of legislative actions around the tech has also been cited by some.

The move also caps a month of progressive price gains in bitcoin markets, having hovered around an average price of $1,143 on 4th April – signifying a jump of roughly $450 in just over a month.

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