Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Drops to $67,300 as Stocks Struggle
The price of bitcoin (BTC) it traded in an unusually narrow trading range around $68,000 in the days following the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, but fell to near the week’s low in Friday morning trading hours.
At 11:45 a.m. ET, bitcoin was trading at $67,300, down 1% over the past 24 hours and down more than 2% from two hours earlier, when it briefly rose above $69,000. The wider CoinDesk20 fell 1.1% in the last day.
May, however, has been strong for bitcoin, which is now 11% higher since the beginning of the month, around the $60,000 level. This underperformed CoinDesk 20’s roughly 20% advance, fueled by a 31% gain in the price of ether (ETH) thanks to the surprising regulatory turnaround on the prospects for a spot ETF for this asset.
This week’s muted action in bitcoin — the price essentially remained in the $67,000 to $69,000 range — came alongside struggles in other risk assets, among them U.S. stocks. While it still remains near all-time highs, the Nasdaq is down about 2% this week, while the S&P 500 is down about 1.5%.
US economic data continued to have a whiff of stagflation, with the April Core PCE Price Index rising 2.8% year-on-year, in line with expectations and at the same pace as the previous month. Chicago PMI for May fell to 35.4, versus expectations of 41 and 37.9 in April. Only at the height of the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 and the Covid lockdowns of March/April 2020 was May’s weak reading matched. The bond market rallied after the news, with the US 10-year Treasury yield falling 5.5 basis points to 4.50%.
June starts on Saturday and next week should bring a little more clarity to the US economic picture, thanks to Monday’s national PMI report and Friday’s national employment report. Confirmation of the softening of economic conditions, and with these better prospects of lower interest rates, could prove to be the catalyst for bitcoin’s attempt to surpass its all-time high above $73,000, set in March. Strong economic data, however, could mean a retest of the May lows.