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Bitcoin (BTC) Price Falls to $65,000, Altcoins Lose 10%-20% as Week Gets Bad
What appeared to be prime time for cryptocurrencies on the back of softening inflation data turned into a bad week for Bitcoin (BTC) on Friday it slumped to its lowest price in four weeks.
During the US trading session, BTC fell more than 2% in an hour to $65,100, from around $67,000. The leading cryptocurrency has fallen 7.5% over the past seven days.
Smaller cryptocurrencies saw even steeper declines, with the broad market benchmarked CoinDesk 20 Index losing almost 12% week over week. Ether (ETH) fell to $3,400, losing more than 10% during this period, while native tokens of rival Tier 1 networks Solana (SOL)Avalanche (AVAX)Cardano (ADA) is near (NEAR) recorded drops of 15%-20%, CoinGecko data Shows.
The rapid collapse has liquidated nearly $180 million in leveraged derivatives trading positions across crypto assets in the past 24 hours, most of which want to bet on higher prices. CoinGlass data shows. This week’s shake-up saw a total of more than $870 million liquidated, removing excess leverage from the markets.
Analysts AND many market participants just a few days ago an imminent bitcoin breakout to new record highs was predicted, supported by a slower pace of inflation and weaker economic data, but rally attempts were quickly sold off, leaving BTC stuck in its sideways range.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday forecast just one rate cut this year, smaller than the central bank’s previous forecast, dashing investors’ hopes of looser monetary policy coming this summer. Political uncertainty in Europe, with early elections called in France, they also pushed the US dollar index (DXY) higher against other major currencies to its strongest level in more than a month, putting pressure on bitcoin.
Bitcoin has also struggled increase in sales by miners and profit taking by long-time holders near the $70,000 area, 10X Research noticedweighing on the broader cryptocurrency market.