While Ethereum remains solidly higher on the day, the entire crypto space just took a notable leg lower.

The day’s slide started around 9amET, when a burst of gold buying appears to have reset the correlation between XAU and BTC:

Just a few hours later, Bitcoin is back below $16,000

Litecoin – yesterday’s big winner – is tumbling…

And while Ethereum is up 11% still, it is roling over…

Futures are underperforming spot and collapsing the arbitrage…

Close up, the pressure has completely erased the Bitcoin futures premium over spot…

While no immediate catalyst for the moves is obvious, we note that Interactive Brokers has allowed clients to short Bitcoin futures (with a massive $40,000 margin) and South Korea said on Wednesday it may tax capital gains from cryptocurrency trading as global regulators worried about a bubble, with Australia’s central bank chief warning of a ‘speculative mania” that has seen the digital asset making rip-roaring gains.