Bitcoin (BTC) had its worst performance in over two weeks on Wednesday, with the BTC/USDT pair being knocked 1.6% lower to US$28,730, with further losses chalked up this morning.
The pair fell as low as US$28,340 in today’s Asia trading session, but has since managed to recover closer to US$28,600.
Oddly, the sharp downturn came amid some positive developments in the bitcoin investing scene, with Europe’s first spot bitcoin EFT going live on Euronext Amsterdam and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:COIN) gaining approval to offer federally regulated crypto futures to retail traders.
"This is a critical milestone that reaffirms our commitment to operate a regulated and compliant business," Coinbase said on the topic.
Like bitcoin, Coinbase shares were seemingly unflustered by the development, having closed 0.2% lower and dipping a further 1.5% in after-hours trading.
Unfortunately for the risk-on side of the market, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes released yesterday precipitated a sell-off on equities, with the FOMC’s bearish sentiment feeding through to the crypto markets too.
“With inflation still well above the Committee’s longer-run goal and the labor market remaining tight, most participants continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy,” the meeting summary stated.
The prospect of yet more interest rate rises is bad news for bitcoin, exemplified by the sharp fall in spot prices.
Bitcoin chalks up another red candlestick – Source: currency.com
There appears to be buyers’ support around the US$28,500, US$28,400 and US$28,300 price points, per Binance’s order book.
Given bitcoin’s recent sideways trade between 29k and 30k, bulls with be aiming to reclaim the lower end of this channel.
Ethereum (ETH) was also stung by yesterday’s FOMC minutes, with the ETH/USDT pair closing 1.15% lower at US$1,807 before falling below the US$1,800 price point today.
Altcoins broadly felt this sudden dip in crypto prices too. Blue chips including Binance’s BNB token, Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) have racked up mid to high-single-digit losses on a week-on-week basis.
Dogecoin (DOGE) and Litecoin (LTC) have fared worse, falling into double-digit losses territory, while Toncoin (TON) remains the one outlier, having gained over 12%.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisaiton currently stands at US$1.14 trillion, having dipped 1.6% overnight.
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