Cryptocurrency Prices on August 22: Bitcoin rises above $60,700 on US rate-cut bets; Ethereum gains

Blue-chip cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum surged Thursday as Federal Reserve minutes suggested that U.S. interest rate cuts may commence within weeks.The minutes validated bets on a rate cut next month and said the “vast majority” of policymakers felt that if data came in as expected, a September cut was likely to be appropriate.

As of 1:06 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) had risen 2% over the past 24 hours, trading at $60,798. Ethereum (ETH) gained 1.2%, trading at $2,631.

“As BTC bulls are showing strength above 60k USD, bears have started to show interest at the 21-week exponential moving average at 61.2k USD to take BTC back to early 60k USD levels. If this doesn’t happen, there is a good chance we will see a Bitcoin all-time high soon,” said CoinSwitch Markets Desk.

“The rally was further supported by a downward revision in U.S. employment growth data, indicating that the job market from March 2023 to March 2024 was not as robust as initially reported. This has fueled market participants’ hopes for more substantial interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, which should be expected sooner,” CoinSwitch added.

Meanwhile, Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin, commented, “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged following the FOMC meeting minutes, which suggested a potential interest rate cut in September. Lower interest rates will enhance market liquidity as borrowing costs decrease.”

Market participants are now awaiting U.S. initial jobless claims data, due at 6:00 pm IST, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.

“Bitcoin could potentially rally to $63,500 if today’s US jobless claims report shows a drop in claims,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.

The broader cryptocurrency market saw gains across major tokens, including BNB, XRP, Dogecoin, Uniswap, Polkadot, Polygon, Chainlink, and Shiba Inu, which rose by up to 11%.

The volume of all stablecoins is now $65.33 billion, 92.97% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume, as per data available on CoinMarketCap.

In the last 24 hours, the market cap of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, rose to $1.2 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 56.95%, according to CoinMarketCap. BTC volume in the last 24 hours rose 30% to $34.9 billion.

Tech view by ZebPay Trade desk

Despite a 21% rally since retesting the sub-$50,000 level on Aug. 5, Bitcoin has struggled to sustain a price above $62,000. In contrast, the S&P 500 index has fully recovered and is now trading just 1% below its all-time high from July 16th. Bitcoin is contending with mixed signals: derivatives metrics show tepid buyer interest, while macroeconomic indicators suggest a shift away from cash positions. Interestingly, these stock market gains have occurred alongside a notable drop in US Treasury yields, indicating strong demand for traditional assets. As the Federal Reserve’s September decision looms, it seems traders are hesitant to increase their exposure to crypto assets, making it challenging for Bitcoin to reclaim the $62,000 level.

Over the past few months, Bitcoin continued to struggle to sustain above the $70k mark as the prices corrected almost by 25% and made a low of $49,000. However, the asset didn’t give a daily closing below the key support of $52,500 and the lower longer shadow around $50k indicated buying and it rallied up to $62,745. Currently, BTC is trading sideways in a range from $57,500 to $62,000 with low volumes. Breakouts on either side of the range with good volumes will further decide the trend for the asset.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)