Bitcoin bloodbath highlights defensive cryptocurrency strategies

Is this the day of reckoning for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies?

The price of a single bitcoin was tumbling on Tuesday, off 20% at around $11,400, underlining a broad selloff among the world’s virtual currencies spurred by nagging fears of increased regulatory scrutiny in South Korea and elsewhere. That leaves the total value of cryptos tracked by CoinMarketCap.com at roughly $545 billion, the lowest since December and down 34% from a peak reached last week.
To be sure, there are still serious and legitimate doubts about the viability of such volatile, decentralized assets like bitcoin that have been described as in the midst of a speculative bubble that is likely to end in tears.
That said, crypto traders, who have endured a number of cycles, sometimes adopt tactics to protect against loss or to get in to position for future trading, similar to those used by investors in the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500 index gold futures or fiat currencies.
Given the atmosphere of bubbliciousness surrounding the sector, none of the following should be taken as investment advice. Still, they offer a look at how some crypto traders think: