Cripto currency traders in Port Harcourt, otherwise known as the online digital currency investors, on forex trading have lamented over the continuous fall in the value of the Bitcoin digital currency over a period of time now, which they claim was very unusual.
Some of the traders who interacted with The Tide at various points lamented that the value of the popular bitcoin has fallen from $47,000 it used to be as at August/September 2021, to $19,000 at the moment, alongside other cripto currencies.
According to Mr Ernest Essien, one of the traders, the cripto market that had been helpful to the unemployed persons has suddenly gone down, when it was supposed to have flourished more.
“I got introduced to the business through a company, the Leverage Hub Consulting, operating in Port Harcourt. I invested into the Cash FX online that trade in Bitcoin at the foreign exchange market.
“Every weekend, there was always a pay out, when you have clocked up to $100, but suddenly the tide has turned: since November 2021 uptill now, the value of Bitcoin kept going down to what we have now as between $21,000 and $19,000, and it is now difficult to cash out from the CashFX company”, he said.
Also, one of the trader, who do not want his identity disclosed, said he had lost about N4m directly on his investment since the continuous crash of the Bitcoin, and blamed the BTC’s crash on the dollar, the war in Ukraine, and many other things.
”I have been in crypto for a while. In the past few weeks, let’s say about eight weeks, if anyone tells you they’ve not lost money they are lying.
“Loses is part of this. On a personal level, and with my firm, we’ve lost about N40m, this is to be conservative. We are big traders. I won’t call it a loss though, because as long as you are still in the market, you will still get your money back. But on a temporary level, if we close our position now, we would be forfeiting nothing less than that amount.
“And this loss is across the board. I can’t share some of these personal losses with you but in a group that I belong to, everyone asides from developers, have lost a lot of money since the turn of the year. A lot of people have lost money”, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the market’s operator, Mr Henry Otonna said “crypto coins by nature are volatile, and we are currently in a bear market. But as we know this doesn’t last for long and there will be a bull market very soon. We don’t know when.”
According to him, prices are falling because of fear, uncertainty, and doubt, adding that the Russian-Ukraine war was also taking its toll on the market.
”There is also the issue between Russia and Ukraine which brought a lot of instability to the market. People got scared and started selling and the more people sell, the more the downtrend in the market becomes.
“Recently, residents of the US also had to pay their taxes, and whenever this happens, residents start selling to raise payments.
“About three or four weeks before the deadline, people start selling, which affects the market since these are heavy investors and their sales affect the market.” he said
However, Otonna further suggested that the price falls could also be a result of institutional manipulation since most of the big guys are heavy investor.

By: Corlins Walter