BITCOIN lost almost a fifth of its value in 10 hours Friday, having surged more than 40 percent in the preceding 48 hours, sparking fears the market may be heading for a price collapse.

Having climbed to US$16,666 on Bitstamp Friday, it tumbled to US$13,482 later — a slide of more than 19 percent. It was last down 8.2 percent at US$15,232.32 on BitStamp.

The Chicago-based Cboe Global Markets exchange launched a futures contract yesterday on the digital currency, to be followed by CME Group this week.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA in London, said investors may have taken profits on bitcoin gains ahead of the Cboe launch, which could open the door to short speculators who believe the price has risen far too quickly.

“The initial bounce after this morning’s selloff suggests there’s still appetite for buying dips but that may not last if we don’t see the kind of rebound witnessed previously,” said Erlam.

“Saying that, the way bitcoin is trading at the minute, I don’t think anyone would be surprised to see it end the day in the green,” he added.

As investors braced for the Cboe launch, some big U.S. banks, including JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, will not immediately clear bitcoin trades for clients once investors start trading futures contracts, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing sources.

As bitcoin slumped, other cryptocurrencies climbed. Ethereum the second-biggest, was up nearly 8 percent, according to trade website Coinmarketcap.

For the week, bitcoin was still up almost a third. Since the start of October, bitcoin has more than tripled in price. So far this year it has soared about 15 fold, stoking concerns that the bubble would burst in dramatic fashion.(SD-Agencies)