Bitcoin price today: range-bound near $108k as trade, tax bill jitters persist

Investing.com-- Bitcoin climbed slightly on Wednesday, but continued its rangebound performance as persistent uncertainty over U.S. trade deals and the impact of a sweeping tax bill continued to weigh on risk appetite. 

The world’s largest cryptocurrency remained squarely within a $103,000 to $108,000 trading range seen through most of June, with recent buying by major corporate holder Strategy, formerly Microstrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), doing little to stimulate prices.

Bitcoin added 0.8% to $107,810 by 09:55 ET (13:55 GMT). While the coin was still sitting on a 3.5% gain from June, it struggled to break out of a recent trading range. 

Trade deals, tax bill uncertainty weighs

Crypto markets tracked rangebound performances in broader risk-driven assets, as uncertainty over U.S. trade tariffs grew before President Donald Tump’s July 9 deadline for trade deals.

Washington has signed a limited number of trade deals with major economies so far, sparking concerns that Trump will impose the full brunt of his “liberation day” tariffs against U.S. trading partners.

Trump on Tuesday flagged a potential deal with India, but also threatened higher tariffs against Japan. 

On the fiscal front, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly voted in favor of a controversial tax and spending cut bill, sending it to the House of Representatives for a final vote. 

Critics of the bill have argued that it will further dent U.S. fiscal health and increase the risk of a debt default in the coming years. Fears of such a scenario had crept into risk-driven markets in recent sessions. 

While trade and fiscal headwinds do not directly affect crypto, the sector is vulnerable to the resulting shifts in sentiment, given its speculative nature. 

Bitcoin miner MARA’s June output slides 

U.S.-listed Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA), formerly Marathon Digital, said on Tuesday that its mining rate of the crypto fell sharply in June from the prior month, due to disruptions from unfavorable weather and natural variability in block luck.

MARA mined 211 Bitcoin in June, down 25% from 282 Bitcoin mined in May. The miner’s hash rate also fell to 57.4 from 58.3. 

Still, the company’s stockpile of Bitcoin rose to 49,940 coins in June, making it the second-largest corporate Bitcoin holder, behind Strategy. 

Bitcoin to hit $135K by Q3-end: StanChart

Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) sees Bitcoin climbing to $135,000 by the end of Q3 and reaching $200,000 by year-end, driven by strong ETF and corporate treasury demand alongside favorable U.S. policy signals.

“Strong inflows drove Q2 price gains – U.S. spot ETFs saw inflows of $12.4bn (120,000 BTC) during the quarter, and Bitcoin treasury companies added 125,000 BTC,” said Geoff Kendrick, noting the combined 245,000 BTC haul marked the second-best quarter ever for both categories.

Kendrick expects Q3 to exceed those figures, citing continued momentum in spot ETF demand, which has totaled $48.7 billion since launching in January 2024.

Bitcoin ETF inflows also “far surpassed $6.9bn of inflows into gold ETFs,” according to the report, suggesting a shift in investor preference despite geopolitical uncertainty.

“We do not view Bitcoin as a geopolitical hedge, so the fact BTC ETF inflows outpaced gold ETF inflows is encouraging. We expect more net ETF buying in Q3 than we saw in Q2,” the analyst wrote.

He also highlighted possible regulatory catalysts, including the anticipated U.S. stablecoin bill and a potential Trump nomination to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell by October.

Crypto price today: altcoins also range-bound

Broader crypto prices tracked Bitcoin’s range-bound performance on Wednesday after logging steep losses in June.

World no.2 crypto Ether edged higher 0.2% to $2,449.85, while XRP fell nearly 1% to $2.18.

Solana rose around 0.5%, while Cardano advanced 1.6%. 

Among meme coins, Dogecoin rose 1% and $TRUMP shed 0.5%.

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.)