Bitcoin and altcoins fall in price amid falling tech stocks and dollar fluctuations
Kyiv • UNN
Bitcoin and altcoin prices fell sharply due to low risk appetite amid a sell-off in tech stocks and expectations of higher interest rates in the US.
The price of bitcoin fell on Thursday due to weak risk appetite in the market, as the fall in shares of the largest US technology companies spilled over into the cryptocurrency markets, while the expectation of new signals on interest rates also mattered. Altcoins also weakened against the backdrop of continued fluctuations in the dollar, UNN writes with reference to Investing.com.
Details
The world's largest cryptocurrency fell by 3.8% over the past 24 hours to $64,198.0 at 05:15 GMT (08:15 Kyiv time).
The losses in bitcoin's price, as indicated, occurred mainly simultaneously with the fall in shares of the largest US technology companies after a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast from Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. Meta's shares fell by 15% in the secondary market, while shares of its competitors Microsoft Corporation and Alphabet Inc. fell by 2% and 3%, respectively.
Bitcoin usually tracks the movement of US tech stocks, given that both sectors are seen as opportunities for highly profitable speculative investments, the publication notes. At the same time, as indicated, earlier this year, this trend faded somewhat, especially after the launch of spot exchange-traded funds in the United States caused bitcoin to outperform.
But in recent weeks, it has been noticed that bitcoin's correlation with technology has come back into play, as the ETF hype has waned and both sectors have faced renewed price pressure due to the prospect of higher and longer-term interest rates in the US.
Bitcoin has fallen by about 8% over the past month, compared to a 4% drop in the Nasdaq 100 Futures high-tech index. At the same time, the cryptocurrency remains in the trading range of $60,000 to $70,000 after reaching record highs in early March.
This rising correlation has focused attention on the earnings of tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet, which are due to be released later on Thursday.
Concerns about rising US interest rates also persisted, as the dollar hovered below five-month highs and put pressure on most tokens.
Ethereum fell by 3.1% to $3157.77, while Solana and XRP dropped by 7.3% and 4.1%, respectively.
The markets were also waiting for new signals on the US economy and interest rates from the upcoming data.
Data on gross domestic product will be released later on Thursday. It is expected to show how resilient the US economy remained in the first quarter. PCE price index data is also expected on Friday. This value is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation and is likely to be taken into account in the central bank's interest rate plans, the publication notes.
