Sudden crypto market drop sends bitcoin below $22,000

Bitcoin on Friday fell to its lowest level in more than three weeks, dipping below $22,000 amid a sudden crypto sell-off in early European trading. Bitcoin plunged from $22,738 to below $21,12.34 at 4:00 p.m. ET, according to CoinDesk data. Earlier in the morning, the cryptocurrency fluctuated between $21,500 and $22,000. It comes shortly after the world's largest digital coin surpassed the $25,000 level for the first time since June following a rise in U.S. stocks. Ether fell from $1,808 to $1,728 at the same time before staging a muted rebound. It had slipped again, falling further to $1,683.90 by 4:00 p.m. ET.

A specific cause for a drop at that time, which also sent Binance Coin, Cardano and Solana falling, was not immediately clear. "It's not showing the pattern of a flash crash, as the assets didn't immediately rebound sharply but sank even lower in the hours that followed," said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "It seems likely that is was as a result of a large sale transaction, in the absence of other more external factors."

Bitcoin and ether ended Thursday in the red, but ether has surged more than 100% since mid-June. Yu Chun Christopher Wong | S3studio | Getty Images