Bitcoin snapped a three-day winning streak to trade sideways Friday, in step with sagging risk assets as hawkish rhetoric from Federal Reserve officials and further signs of an aggressive US regulatory clampdown tempered investors’ risk appetite.
(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin snapped a three-day winning streak to trade sideways Friday, in step with sagging risk assets as hawkish rhetoric from Federal Reserve officials and further signs of an aggressive US regulatory clampdown tempered investors’ risk appetite.
The largest digital token slid as much as 4.8% and dipped below $24,000 at one point Friday before recouping most of those losses to trade at $24,443 as of 12:35 p.m. in New York. The coin had pushed past $25,000 for the first time since August in the previous session. Smaller tokens such as Ether, Avalanche and Binance Coin also bounced back, as did an index of the 100 biggest coins also fell.
Digital assets were mostly unchanged to lower alongside US equities as traders fully priced in quarter-point interest rate increases at the Fed’s next meeting, suggesting investors are heeding warnings that further hikes of 50 basis points were not out of the question. Both the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq 100 dropped more than 1% during Friday’s session.
“The past week of macroeconomic data rained on the broad-based risk rally parade we’ve seen over the past weeks, including a recent hit to the stellar YTD growth in Bitcoin,” Sylvia Jablonski, CEO and CIO at Defiance ETFs said. “The good news is that inflation is coming down.”
It’s been quite a strong start to the year for Bitcoin, which in 2022 fell 64% in its second-worst annual performance on record. Despite the slew of negative news and spate of US regulatory actions, the price of the coin has remained resilient. Skeptics contend the bounce is vulnerable to the risk of higher-for-longer rates, though others see opportunity for buy-and-hold investors.
“Investors may consider looking through what the Fed will do this year, knowing that we are nearing the end, and buying on the dips of risk assets that may continue to shine later in the year,” Jablonski said.
For crypto market prices: CRYP; for top crypto news: TOP CRYPTO.
–With assistance from Akshay Chinchalkar.
(Adds comment of Jablonski and updates prices)
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