Ethereum plummets to $164 in crypto market freefall

The crypto markets are falling out of the sky. Ethereum has dropped further than most, posting losses of 19 percent over the last 24 hours. The biggest drop today in Ethereum's price came in just the last two hours when things really began heading south for the crypto market.

The coin dropped from $190 to lows of $162 before rebounding slightly to its current value of $164, according to data from Messari. This is the lowest ETH's price has been since May. And it may not all be over yet.

The market is in a worrying state, with many investors heading to US-dollar backed stablecoin Tether for safety.

It's not clear what has spooked the markets, but a possible scenario is that investors were banking on Bakkt delivering real volume in its physically-delivered Bitcoin futures offerings—where trades are settled in Bitcoin, not U.S. dollars. But Bakkt pulled in less than a million dollars in its first day, which many felt was surprisingly low.

Ethereum's price is now down 88 percent since its all-time high in January 2018, at the height of the altcoin rally. Will it ever see such glorious heights again?