Bitcoin price moved little on Thursday after a volatile session as a forecast from the Federal Reserve of high for longer interest rates largely overshadowed some signs of cooling near-term inflation.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency rose 0.4% in the past 24 hours to $67,484.6 by 02:05 ET (06:05 GMT). The token clocked wild swings this week, rising as far as $70,000 before falling sharply.
Bitcoin rangebound as Fed forecasts only one rate cut this year Traders remained largely averse to Bitcoin and broader cryptocurrencies in the face of high-for-longer U.S. interest rates.
While the Fed kept rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank now saw the possibility of only one rate cut this year, compared to prior expectations of three cuts.
Several policymakers also called for no rate cuts this year, stating that more progress needed to be made in bringing down inflation. The Fed also hiked its inflation forecast for the year.
The Fed’s comments came after data earlier on Wednesday showed U.S. consumer inflation eased slightly more than expected in May. While Bitcoin saw some gains after the inflation reading, it lost ground after the Fed’s comments.
High rates bode poorly for speculative assets such as crypto currencies, given that they limit the amount of liquidity available for investing in the sector. While recent capital flows data showed institutional investors were still pouring in some money into crypto, this was barely reflected in token prices.
Focus is now on producer price index inflation data for more cues on U.S. inflation. The reading is due later on Thursday. Crypto price today: Altcoins drift lower amid rate jitters The prospect of high for longer U.S. interest rates also weighed on broader cryptocurrency prices.
World no.2 token Ether fell 0.3% to $3,499.09, giving up even more of its gains made in the prior month.
ADA, XRP and SOL rose between 0.6% and 1.7%, but were trading down for the week.
Among meme tokens, SHIB fell 1.6% while DOGE rose 3%. But sentiment towards the two was largely cooling in tandem with diminishing interest in meme stocks on Wall Street.
GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) lost even more ground on Wednesday and wiped out most of a rally seen in late-May.
