Bitcoin pauses below record peak; gained 55 percent in November.

 Bitcoin hovered around $9,600 in volatile trade on Friday, after tumbling about 15 percent from an all-time high hit this week as some investors warned ominously of a bubble and further falls in the stratospheric cryptocurrency.

 Bitcoin was down 2.8 percent at $9,612 in early Asian trading on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, from a record peak of $11,395 set on Wednesday. On Thursday, it went as low as $9,000.

 The latest slide has tempered an astronomical rise in recent months: Bitcoin was up almost 1,100
percent year-to-date on Wednesday. As of 0200 GMT, it was still up around more than 900 percent.

Bitcoin’s rise has been fuelled by signs that the digital currency is slowly gaining traction in the mainstream investment world, as well as by increasing public awareness.

In the past week, Google searches for “bitcoin” exceeded searches for “Trump” for the first time, data from Google showed, even though U.S. President Donald Trump has been prominently in the news this week. 

Several large market exchanges including Nasdaq, CBOE Holdings and CME Group -- the world’s largest derivatives exchange -- have said they are planning to provide futures contracts based on bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s rapid ascent has prompted warnings from a stream of prominent investors that it had reached bubble territory.

The deputy governor of the Bank of England on Wednesday said investors should “do their homework” before investing in the digital currency. 

Despite its massive fall this week, bitcoin still ended November 54.6 percent higher, its best monthly performance since a near 66 percent gain in August. 

The cryptocurrency has posted monthly losses only three times in 2017. One industry watcher predicted further rises were in the offing as demand for bitcoin is set to outpace supply.