Bitcoin Price Falls Below $5300 as Traders are Cashing Out

The price of Bitcoin is now trading at just around $5290 after falling as low as $5265 moments ago. Right now the most likely culprit is simply the desire of long term traders to cash out on the amazing returns they made recently, although it might be revealed later that another reason is behind the move.

Another possible reason for the headwind is the confluence of disparaging remarks made by leading financial figures recently. Chief among these are probably the comments of Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Robert Shiller, of the Case-Shiller Index, who compared excitement to invest in Bitcoin to a passing sensation.

Robert Shiller: There's a strange enthusiasm for bitcoin from CNBC.

"I'll take bitcoin, too, because I know I can sell it and get out of it. There seems to be some strange enthusiasm for it," Shiller said on CNBC's "Closing Bell". "People get excited about things like new monetary standards. Remember bimetallism? It went into a fad, everyone was talking about it for a while. And then it faded."

Another financial establishment figure that derided Bitcoin is the president of Brazil’s central bank, Ilan Goldfajn. According to local reports from Brazil, he said: “Bitcoin is a financial asset with no ballast (stability mechanism) that people buy because they believe it will appreciate. That is a typical bubble or pyramid.”