The cryptocurrency market this week is showing its steepest decline since January, when its capitalization reached its peak. The Galaxy Crypto Index, calculated by Bloomberg based on cryptocurrency prices, fell by 23% in the week from January 16 to 23, the fastest pace since the beginning of this year.

The fall in the Bitcoin rate during trading on Friday reached 7.6%, but later decreased and, as of 17:10 Moscow time, amounted to 3.7%.

The Bitcoin rate dropped to $4,266, which is the lowest level since October 2017.

The drop in quotes of other well-known cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum and Litecoin, fell by at least 4.5% on Friday.

The cryptocurrency market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap.com, is now about $139 billion, up from a January peak of $835 billion.

“There are still a lot of people in the game,” said Oanda analyst Stephen Innes. “If Bitcoin collapses, if we see it move towards $3,000, it will be monstrous. People will rush to sell cryptocurrency.”

The expert’s base scenario assumes that Bitcoin will trade in the range of $3500-6500 in the short term. He does not exclude the possibility of the cryptocurrency falling to $2,500 by January.