Ripple fell nearly seven percent, or over $0.03 on Tuesday to October 15 lows, erasing November's gains amid a violent crypto selloff. 

As of 08:04 GMT, Ripple plunged 6.65% to $0.4505, with an intraday high at $0.50888, and a five-week trough at $0.41184, with Ripple's market value now receding to $18.05 billion. 

Ripple is falling for another session amid a wave of pessimism that's permeating through the market following a hard forking (split) for Bitcoin Cash, causing uncertainty and sending the whole market collapsing. 

Last week, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde suggested on global central banks and their respective governments the possibility of issuing their own digital currencies to make them more stable and controlled and accessible for all sectors instead of the current mayhem in that market. 

Lagarde believes that payments through digital currencies would be instant, safe, and cheap, and while they would be anonymous, central banks will keep a database of all payments, cutting out fraud and money laundering operations. 

The Path of Ripple

It's worth mentioning that Ripple was first launched on March 7, 2015, to start trading at $0.015, with the virtual currency losing nearly two thirds of its value by early 2016 to $0.0059, before rising 5% during 2016 to $0.0063, and then skyrocketing 28,000% to $1.748 by the end of 2017, before marking unprecedented highs in January at $3.30, then losing up to 90% of value on a violent selloff wave that stormed crypto assets this year. 

Ripple then reversed nearly 80% higher in only a few days in September on positive news for the cryptocurrency and its standing between major financial institutions, before joining a mass decline in the crypto market in recent days and weeks. 

Silver futures fell nearly one percent in American trade away from November 8 highs as the dollar index rebounded strongly from November 7 lows, following earlier housing data from the US today. 

As of 07:53 GMT, silver futures due in December fell 0.85% to $14.28 an ounce away from two-week lows, while the dollar index rose 0.68% to 96.85 away from two-week lows. 

US Housing Data  

Earlier US data showed housing starts rose to an annualized 1.23 million units in October as expected, improving upon September's 1.21 million units. 

US building permits slipped to an annualized 1.26 million units as expected from 1.27 million in September, revised from 1.24 million. 

Oil futures plummeted in American trade with US crude plumbing October 2017 lows, while Brent hit December lows, as the dollar index gained ground today following earlier data from the US, the world's largest producer and consumer. 

As of 06:30 GMT, US crude futures due in January fell 6.38% to $53.55 a barrel, while Brent January futures swooned 7.10% to $62.05 a barrel, as the dollar index rallied 0.68% to 96.84 away from November 7 lows. 

Earlier reports showed North Korea intends to resume imports of Iranian oil next year after getting exempted from US sanctions on Iranian oil alongside seven other countries, including India, Japan, Turkey, Italy, Greece, and Taiwan. 

Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said no decision has been taken yet on whether to continue the current deal of cutting output by 1.8 million bpd until late 2018 in cooperation with OPEC. 

Novak said Russia plans to sign a partnership agreement with OPEC, with the issue scheduled for discussion at the December 6 meeting in Vienna. 

Otherwise, International Energy Agency Fatih Birol warned that a decision by major producers to cut output could have a negative impact on markets, while noting that US exemptions from Iran sanctions were broader than expected, leading to a drop in prices. 

US President Donald Trump recently called on Saudi Arabia and OPEC to not cut output, believing that prices should be lower based on demand and supply foundation, which came weeks after the US reinstated sanctions on Iranian oil exports, with the Trump's administration counting back then on Saudi Arabia to fill Iran's void in the market.

Iran Sanctions 

Otherwise, as US sanctions went into effect on Iranian oil exports starting November 4, eight countries were granted waivers for 180 days, mainly China, India, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Greece, Taiwan, and Turkey, already the largest importers of Iranian oil. 

In Russia, output rose to a new record of 11.41 million bpd in October, after averaging 11.36 million bpd in September. 

US Oil Rig Count 

Baker Hughes, a US oil services company, reported an increase of 2 in the rig count last week, the second such increase in a row.  

The total count has now reached 888 rigs, the highest since March 2015.

Drake & Scull International said it is continuing with communication and cooperation with Dubai Financial Market (DFM) management, as well as the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) to resume trading on its stock, after endorsing the financial and operational restructuring plan, and provision of additional information that may be required. 

The restructuring committee appointed recently will work with expert advisory staff hired by the company in setting the comprehensive restructuring plan that targets restoring stability to the company and recording profitability and growth in the long term.

DFM announced last Thursday suspending trading on SDI stock till further notice, which came a day after the company announced the appointment of external restructuring advisors to work with the recently appointed Restructuring Committee on the financial plan to restore operations and stabilize the business.

The company’s board of directors approved on 22 October 2018, the formation of a Restructuring Committee after shareholders voted on 4 October 2018 by special resolution at the General Assembly to continue operations.

The company also announced on Wednesday a 57.5% rise in losses for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018, to AED 565.1 million, compared to a net loss of AED 358.9 million incurred in the corresponding quarter of 2017.

The engineering services company recorded AED 9.4 million loss from contracts with clients during the third quarter, compared to AED 590.3 million revenues in the same quarter of 2017.

Financial results for the first nine months of 2018 showed AED 747.9 million loss, compared with AED 1.396 billion loss in prior-year period.