Bitcoin (BTC) price slides more than $600 in just 30 minutes on Wednesday to fall below $10,000 USD for the first time in over a month.

The Catalyst Remains Unknown

Bitcoin, which is up almost 200% this year, dropped more than 5% from just under $10,200 US to around $9,600 between 17:50 UTC and 18:20 UTC. It’s the first time the world’s largest cryptocurrency has fallen below the $10,000 USD milestone since July. The catalyst for the dropoff is not yet apparent; however, one analyst believes low trading volumes exacerbated the effects of the drop. Jeff Dorman, Chief Investment Officer at Arca, said:

“It’s the week before Labor Day. Half of crypto is at Burning Man and the other half is sitting on their hands doing nothing. Volumes are low and it takes very little to move markets right now, and you have big futures/options expirations coming up at the end of the week. The only definitive thing I can point to is that the move was led by declines in [altcoins] and other large-cap tokens that have been out of favor for months. I just don’t think there are a lot of investors willing to defend price right now.”

Altcoins Drop Alongside Bitcoin

As mentioned by Dorman, several major altcoins also dropped off sharply alongside Bitcoin today. Ethereum (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), XRP, and EOS also saw declines in the region of 5% to 10%. Another reason for this could be the recent news that China is planning its own cryptocurrency, which could potentially rival Bitcoin and force the major altcoins further down the pecking order.

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Just yesterday, some analysts speculated that Bitcoin could potentially hit the $20,000 USD mark before the end of the year, with many more believing it will cross that threshold at some point next year. While data published on Twitter by Skew stated that there was only a 7% chance Bitcoin would hit the milestone, these chances have surely been diminished by today’s losses.