Bitcoin
Stable at $71K, Payrolls Await More Rate Suggestions By Investing.com
Investing.com – Bitcoin prices rose slightly on Friday, stabilizing near record highs amid support from a weaker dollar and growing bets on U.S. interest rate cuts ahead of key earnings data non-agricultural payments.
rose 0.6% in the last 24 hours to $71,327.6 at 01:55 ET (05:55 GMT). The token was set to add more than 5% this week after breaking out of the $60,000 to $70,000 trading range established since mid-March.
Rate Cut Bets Rise Ahead of Nonfarm Payrolls Data
Broader Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices were driven by growing expectations that the Fed would begin.
A series of weak US economic readings supported this notion, as investors bet that a cooling US economy will give the Fed more confidence to ease monetary policy. The dollar fell this week, also benefiting risk-oriented assets.
The readings came before the main data, which will be released later this Friday and should offer more definitive clues about the job market and interest rates.
Looser monetary conditions bode well for speculative and high-risk assets like cryptocurrencies as they free up more capital that can be directed towards speculative crypto plays.
Bitcoin was trading less than $3,000, below a record high, as expectations of lower rates spurred a heavy dose of institutional capital flows into exchange-traded funds linked to the cryptocurrency.
Excitement over the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs for US markets was a key factor behind the cryptocurrency’s run to record levels earlier this year.
Analysts said the prospect of lower rates could trigger another record rally for the token in the near term.
Crypto Price Today: Altcoins Tread Water, With Average Weekly Performance
Among the broader crypto markets, major altcoins also maintained a tight trading range on Friday in anticipation of more signals on US rates.
But most tokens were set for some weekly gains amid expectations of lower rates and as optimism regarding a spot Ether ETF persisted.
The world’s No. 2 token fell 0.8% to $3,814.40 and traded flat for the week.
Altcoins and floor water are up between 1% and 3% this week.
Among memetokens, it fell slightly. They also received little support from some resurgence in meme trading after leading meme stock GME rose sharply this week.