-- Bitcoin price rose marginally on Wednesday as an overnight drop in the dollar offered some relief, although persistent fears over higher-for-longer interest rates and dwindling hype over ETFs kept the token comfortably in a trading range seen for over a month.
rose 1% in the past 24 hours to $67,001.7 by 00:57 ET (04:57 GMT). The token has remained largely within a $60,000 to $70,000 trading range after hitting a record high of over $73,000 in early-March.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency also saw limited gains even as technology stocks- which it usually tracks- rebounded sharply this week.
Bitcoin’s halving event- which saw a 50% reduction in mining rewards- passed over the weekend with little price action. The launch of the ‘Runes’ protocol, which triggered a spike in on-chain activity and pushed transaction fees to record highs- also spurred little change in Bitcoin prices.
Data earlier this week showed that crypto investment products- specifically Bitcoin exchange-traded funds- saw a second straight week of capital outflows, amid dwindling hype over the U.S. approval of the ETFs earlier this year.
While the ETF approval had powered Bitcoin to record highs in March, further gains in the token now appeared in doubt.
Crypto price today: limited price action as rate fears persist
Broader cryptocurrency prices saw limited price action on Wednesday, as the sector was pressured by persistent concerns over higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates.
rose 2.4%, while and added 0.3% and 2.2%, respectively.
While crypto prices had advanced through the first quarter of 2024 on expectations of early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, optimism over such a scenario died out in April.
Strong inflation readings and hawkish signals from the Fed saw traders price out expectations for a rate cut in June.
Higher-for-longer interest rates bode poorly for crypto, given that the sector usually benefits from increased speculation in a low-rate, high-liquidity environment.
Focus this week is on more data on the U.S. economy, which is likely to factor into the outlook on interest rates.
data for the first quarter is due on Thursday, while data- the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge- is due on Friday.
