Bitcoin dropped more than 9% in the first two trading sessions of April after meandering along the $70,000 line in the latter stages of March.
Yesterday was particularly brutal, with the BTC/USD pair plummeting 6% to close the session below $64,500.
Though this morning offered some respite, with bitcoin climbing back to the $66,359 mark, the world’s largest cryptocurrency still faces a few headwinds worth considering.
The US dollar index (DXY) just hit a six-week high as US investors started to price in fewer interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.
Swap markets suggested 0.69 percentage points (ppts) worth of cuts by December, a more hawkish outlook compared to the 0.75 ppt implied by the Fed’s outlook.
Markets are likely to support the greenback in the near term to reflect this higher-for-longer outlook.
Spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds also chalked up $85.7 million worth of cash outflows on Monday, reversing nearly a week’s worth of inflows prior.
Farside data shows that inflows returned yesterday, albeit at a softer $40 million.
Despite the recent bearishness, bitcoin is still in a strong position year to date, having added over 55%.
Bitcoin’s year-to-date performance – Source: tradingview.com
Ethereum also saw a sell off over the past two days to the tune of 12%, though has managed to claw back some losses today. The ETH/USD pair is currently swapping for $33,14, around 7% lower week on week.
In the broader altcoin space, BNB, Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX) are all on the week-on-week red, while Solana (SOL) has added around one percentage point.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at $2.51 trillion, with bitcoin dominance at a flat 52%.