Bitcoin price edged slightly lower Monday, giving up the weekend’s slight gains as the overall crypto market steadies.
The premier cryptocurrency declined by 0.34% in the past 24 hours to $65,764.8 by 06:16 am ET (11:16 GMT). It had risen as high as $66,914 on Sunday.
Bitcoin slides following Fed rate decision
On Wednesday last week, Bitcoin jumped back above the $70,000 mark before pulling back on the day and continuing lower for the rest of the week. The weekend saw a slight push higher, but so far on Monday, Bitcoin has pushed slightly lower.
With the Federal Reserve now projecting only one rate cut for the remainder of 2024, risk-driven assets like crypto have been pressured. Higher rates generally provide a headwind for the sector by keeping liquidity levels low, while also driving USD strength.
As a result, Bitcoin has moved lower since Thursday.
Federal Reserve policymakers said there has been “modest further progress” toward its 2% inflation objective.
At the press conference, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank doesn’t yet have the confidence to lower rates despite inflation having eased from peak levels. On the other hand, Powell said no one has rate hikes as their base case.
Crypto price today: Altcoins mixed
Beyond Bitcoin, most major altcoins also fell slightly on Monday morning.
World no.2 token Ether declined by 0.37% to $3,496.77, while ADA is down almost 1%. However, XRP has climbed 2.3%, while SOL has gained 1.4% so far on Monday. Among meme tokens, DOGE declined 0.9% and SHIB fell 2.3%.
On Thursday, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler told senators in a budget hearing that the final approvals for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trading ether should be finished this summer.