For the first time since 2015, Bitcoin started the new year with a correction, extending its decline from the record of US $ 19,511 reached on December 18.
The virtual currency fell to US $ 13,624.56 at 5 pm in New York on Monday, up 4.8 percent from Friday, according to data collected by Bloomberg. This is also a drop from the US $ 14,156 that reached Sunday, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks daily prices. The cryptocurrency fluctuated in Asian operations on Tuesday, with a decline of 1.9 percent at 3:22 p.m. in Hong Kong
Bitcoin had a much stronger start last year and maintained that momentum, which intensified the cryptocurrency fever. It advanced 3.6 percent on the first day of 2017 to US $ 998, according to data from coinmarketcap.com, and ended the year with an increase of more than 1,300 percent.
That rally attracted a growing number of competing currencies and last month bitcoin came to Wall Street in the form of futures contracts. The currency hit a peak on December 18, hours after its derivatives agreements debuted in CME Group Inc., which some traders said would boost short positions.
This chart illustrates how the Bitcoin has started the year since 2014.
