Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell on Friday, with analysts eyeing profit-taking and portfolio reshuffling as a remarkable first quarter draws to a close. Economic data arriving during the day appears to be a key catalyst.
The price of Bitcoin has fallen 2.5% in the past 24 hours to $27,850. The biggest digital asset briefly topped $29,000 in Thursday trading, marking the highest level since the crypto crash accelerated last June. Despite pared gains since then, Bitcoin is on track to end a booming first quarter of 2023 as…
Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies fell on Friday, with analysts eyeing profit-taking and portfolio realignment as a remarkable first quarter draws to a close. Economic data arriving during the day appears to be a key catalyst.
The price of Bitcoin has fallen 2.5% in the past 24 hours to $27,850. The biggest digital asset briefly topped $29,000 in Thursday trading, marking the highest level since the crypto crash accelerated last June. Despite paring gains since, Bitcoin is on track to end a booming first quarter of 2023 that has spurred calls for a new bull market, after starting the year amid multi-year lows around $16,500.
“Bitcoin shrugged off regulatory headwinds and tested $29,000 on Thursday only to face selling pressure from whales. The number of Bitcoin addresses with more than 100 Bitcoins has fallen sharply in recent days, suggesting some whales are profiting from it recent Bitcoin rally, says Yuya Hasegawa, analyst at crypto exchange Bitbank.
Despite regulatory pressure, digital assets have marched higher in recent weeks driven by expectations that the Federal Reserve will become more accommodative in monetary policy. An aggressive campaign of interest rate hikes by the Fed over the past year – an attempt to control decades of high inflation – decimated crypto and stocks and made Bitcoin more correlated with
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500.
Macro catalysts remain key for crypto, which is why Friday’s release of the February personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index — the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation — looms large. If the data shows signs of inflation continuing to cool, it could raise bets that the Fed will not raise interest rates after its next policy decision in May, which could lead to more gains for Bitcoin.
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Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
— the second largest crypto — fell less than 1% to just $1,800. Smaller cryptos or altcoins were more mixed, too
Cardano
climbing 3% but
Polygon
loses 2%. Memecoins were slightly weaker, with both
Dogecoin
and
Shiba Inu
falls less than 1%.
Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
