In the face of rise of interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty, and more the cryptocurrency market has ebbed and flowed. Bitcoin (BTC) has been trading below $28,000 recently, a 2-day slide from a peak of over $30,000. Analysts are noting this could be a consolidation and market correction in light of conditions for the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates for a longer period of time.

Investors have their eyes on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that’s coming up next week. According to CME FedWatch Tool there is a high probability of the US central bank raising interest rates by 25 basis points (bps). It's likely market participants will be exercising caution until the regulatory side starts to see a positive development.

The second-largest cryptocurrency The Ether (ETH) has seen a similar steep decline of 11% in the past week, as has the CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) at a 9.3% loss for the week. That being said, the BTC-to-gold ratio is still on a high having gone from 9 ozs to 14.7 ozs over the start of the year - indicating BTC performing better than a safe-haven asset like gold.

Stocks are mixed Monday afternoon — the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are both around 0% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has seen a 0.3% drop. Meanwhile bond-market yields have seen a decline with both the 2-year and 10-year Treasury notes reaching 4.14% and 3.51% respectively.

It seems cryptocurrencies are still not popular amongst speculators and will remain hesitant until the market regulatory side sees clear positive development. Until then, BTC is trying to find out the lower boundary of its trading range and Ether is following suit.



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