Bitcoin’s price broke below the 60K mark after falling over the past five days, hitting a low of $59.1K at the time of writing.
Despite a slight recovery to $59,500 levels, sentiment remains low compared to Bitcoin’s all-time high of $73,757, which occurred more than six weeks ago.
Red April in the crypto market
Throughout April, ether has dropped by 18%, and bitcoin has decreased by more than 16%. Smaller cryptocurrencies saw an even more severe decline in value, with dogecoin and altcoins losing more than a third of their market capitalization.
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K33 Research pointed out that seasonal influences, such as lesser interest over the summer, also suggest lower prices.
About 134,420 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with total liquidations at the time of this publication amounting to $432.47 million. The largest single liquidation order happened on OKX – ETH-USDT-SWAP, valued at $6.07 million.
According to several observers, one of the main reasons why investors aren’t so interested in Bitcoin is because it has been unable to profit from the growing tensions in the Middle East.
Chart analyst Peter Brandt has changed his stance on Bitcoin after earlier being extremely optimistic about it. Brandt hypothesized that the increasing trend of bitcoin may have peaked. This is in sharp contrast to his February forecast that prices might rise to $200,000 during the bullish cycle that began at the bear market lows in November 2022 and may last until September 2025.
The most recent estimate is predicated on a statistical idea known as “exponential decay,” which characterizes the process of lowering a sum by a constant percentage rate over time. This is because the U.S. Federal Reserve will probably keep interest rates over 5% for longer than expected, and investors are growing more concerned about a global reversal.
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Rate cuts, according to former Kansas City Fed President, Esther George, would need a “pretty dramatic affirmation” of a weakening economy. George also mentioned that the Fed might wait to move until 2025 because of the November national presidential election.
Outlook
Bulls in the Bitcoin market contend that if central banks choose to step in, either the world economy will go into recession or inflation will get worse in the second half of 2024. But even if that theory turns out to be accurate, the S&P 500 businesses’ earnings potential and the $6.9 trillion in assets held by non-banking companies may make them attractive targets for hedging against fiat.
Stocks ultimately fight for a piece of reserve assets as well, even if that means trading at a premium to their historical multiples.
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Furthermore, the U.S. Treasury Department is anticipated to reinstate its debt repurchase program on May 1 for the first time in over 20 years. The program’s objective is to sustain liquidity, which has become crucial since Japan, one of the biggest holders of US Treasury bonds, was compelled to step in on April 29 to support its foreign currency rate.
As a result, investors are skeptical about whether Bitcoin’s price will persist if the macroeconomic environment keeps getting worse.
