Crypto prices fall after hawkish comments from Powell spook financial markets
Editor’s Note: With so much market volatility, stay tuned for daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our quick summary of today’s must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here!
(Kitco News) – The reservations many had about being exposed to the market ahead of today’s Jackson Hole summit proved well-founded as hawkish comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell sent asset prices across global financial markets tumbling on Friday.
At the time of writing, the S&P 500 is down 2.15% on the day, while the Dow and NASDAQ are down 1.85% and 2.57% respectively, while the vast majority of cryptocurrencies in the top 100 are now in the red for the day.
Daily performance in the cryptocurrency market. Source: Coin360
Data from TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) price experienced a whipsaw effect following Powell’s comments, initially rising from $21,130 to a daily high of $21,895, only to plunge more than 6.22% to hit a daily low of $20,530.
BTC/USD 1 hour chart. Source: TradingView
This outcome was not entirely unexpected for Kitco Crypto readers, as Kitco Senior Market Analyst Jim Wyckoff warned of the possibility of a decline in his Bitcoin brief on Friday morning.
“Bears have a slight overall technical advantage in the short term. The recent break has led to a ‘collapse in volatility’, suggesting that a larger price move is on the horizon. Technical odds slightly favor the move to the downside. Market prices have a tend to swing between periods of higher volatility and periods of lower volatility, and some higher volatility is due now,” Wyckoff warned.
Ether falls despite Merge hype
Top altcoin Ethereum (ETH) has been the talk of the town in recent weeks as its transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, known as Merge, looks set to be completed on or around September 15.
It looks like the build hype wasn’t enough to shield Ether from J. Powell’s comments, as the smart contract platform saw its token price make a similar whipsaw move to reach a daily low of $1,565, and is currently down 7 .3% on 24-hour chart.
ETH/USD 1 hour chart. Source: TradingView
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that out of the top 200 tokens, only a handful of coins have managed to make a profit amid the widespread downturn.
The biggest gainer in the last 24 hours was Braintrust (BTRST), which rose 10.74% to a price of $2.11, followed by a 5.3% increase for Conflux (CFX) and a 5.3% increase in the price of Tribe (TRIBE).
The total cryptocurrency market cap is now $999 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 39.7%.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect the views of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an invitation to exchange goods, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept responsibility for any loss and/or damage arising from the use of this publication.
