Bitcoin breaks below $8,000 as free fall continues

Continues ripping through major support, breaching the $8,000-level support within the last hour.

The drop follows a breakout of a month of consolidation around the $10,000 price point, beginning mid-August.

What has startled investors is the speed of the drop.

Mirroring the expediency of Bitcoin's gravity-defying price gains, in less than 72-hours three months of gains were erased.

The movement is supported by $18.3 billion in reported trading volume from CoinMarketCap.

The figure follows two impressive days posting $25.0 billion and $21.7 billion in trading volume on Sept. 24 and 25, respectively.

As a result of the recent market movement, Bitcoin volatility spiked considerably after trending downward since late July, increasing 48 percent from 2.1 to 3.1 percentage points.

Despite the sudden price drop, BTC dominance actually increased over a full percentage point from 67.2 to 68.3 percent.

In terms of overall cryptocurrency market capitalization, an impressive $40 billion flowed out of the markets-a 15.7 percent drop.

Tether recently rose to the 4th position with a market capitalization of $4.1 billion, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.