The world’s largest cryptocurrency was unchanged over the past 24 hours at $69,406 by 00:58 ET (04:58 GMT), after recouping a bulk of its weekly losses over the weekend.
But the token still remained well within a trading range established over the past month, as it struggled for direction after hitting record highs in March.
Beyond Bitcoin, other top cryptocurrencies also saw rangebound movement as focus remained squarely on more cues on U.S. interest rates. Like Bitcoin, the broader crypto market also benefits from a low-rate, high-liquidity environment.
World no. 2 crypto Ethereum rose 1%, while XRP fell 0.4%. Both tokens are also the subject of ongoing government scrutiny.
Markets were seen largely trimming bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by as soon as June. The CME Fedwatch tool showed traders pricing in a barely 51% chance for a 25 basis point cut in June.
Anticipation of key consumer price index inflation data for March- due this Wednesday- also kept sentiment muted, offering little strength to crypto markets. The reading is expected to show inflation fell slightly, but remained well above the Fed’s 2% annual target.
Higher-for-longer rates bode poorly for crypto markets, given that they usually benefit from loose monetary conditions, which encourage more speculative trading.
A bulk of recent crypto market strength was driven chiefly by Bitcoin, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency saw a deluge of capital flows after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot exchange-traded funds for U.S. markets in January.
But these capital flows were seen slowing in recent weeks, as enthusiasm over the Bitcoin ETF approval now appeared to be running out of steam.
Traders were now looking to an SEC decision on spot Ethereum ETFs, due in May, as well as ongoing SEC cases against Ripple and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN), for more cues on the crypto market.
Source: Cryptocurrency - investing.com
