Bitcoin Price Update
Investing.com— Bitcoin price slipped marginally on Friday and was headed for a steep weekly loss as a rout in broader financial markets, driven by concerns over slowing economic growth, battered crypto prices.
Fears of a mass sale event by the U.S. government and uncertainty regarding the impact of the U.S. presidential race on crypto regulation kept traders largely averse towards crypto.
Bitcoin stood at $64,649.0 by 08:33 ET (12:33 GMT), having dipped as low as $63,697.1 earlier.
Bitcoin Heads for Weekly Losses as Crypto Sentiment Sours
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was set to lose over 5% this week, as sentiment towards crypto markets soured amid growing uncertainties in the sector.
Bitcoin was pressured by reports that the U.S. government had mobilized about $2 billion of confiscated tokens for potential sale—a scenario that could exert downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price.
A broader risk-off sentiment kept traders averse to crypto markets, with weak economic readings from the U.S. and China ramping up fears over slowing growth, prompting a retreat to safer assets like gold, the dollar, and the Japanese yen.
Global stock markets experienced a significant downturn on Thursday and Friday amid increasing risk aversion.
Uncertainty over the U.S. presidential election was also a factor; a Bloomberg poll showed Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris tied with Republican nominee Donald Trump, signaling a diminished prospect of a Trump presidency. Crypto markets had previously rallied on Trump’s remarks about supporting the industry if reelected.
Harris, conversely, has made no public statements about crypto but is expected to continue the Biden administration’s crackdown on the sector, citing concerns over fraud.
Analysts Point Out Key Bitcoin Technical Levels to Watch
Following its latest decline, Bitcoin is hovering near its 50-day moving average, a key support line for some traders.
Analysts indicated, “If the decline develops, dynamics around the $63K and $61K levels, near where the 50 and 200-day moving averages are, will be important. A failure of this support will open the way to $55K, which is quite frightening,” a market analyst at FxPro reportedly told CoinDesk via email.
“August is regarded as one of the two worst months for BTC. Over the past 13 years, Bitcoin ended the month up only five times and down eight times. The average decline was 15.4%, and the average rise was 26%” they added.
The broad sell-off in BTC also impacted some Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. While U.S.-listed BTC ETFs saw a total daily net inflow of $50.6 million, funds such as GBTC, FBTC, ARKB, BITB, and HODL experienced outflows. In contrast, Ether ETFs collectively posted a net inflow of $26.75 million, although many showed zero flow.
Crypto Price Today: Altcoins Track Bitcoin Losses
Among broader crypto markets, major altcoins reflected Bitcoin’s weakness amid a lack of positive cues. Altcoins were also headed for weekly losses.
World no.2 token Ether fell 2% to $3,135.21 and was on track for a 3.5% weekly loss. The token saw little gain from the recent launch of spot exchange-traded Ether funds in U.S. markets.
XRP, ADA, and SOL fell between 2.5% and 6.5%, while meme tokens DOGE and SHIB dropped around 3% each.
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