Bitcoin Price Falls Again After Steep Dive Last Week

Bitcoin dropped again on Saturday and was last down around 4 percent for the day, hovering around the $35,000 (roughly Rs. 26 lakh) level.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is now about half its $69,000 (roughly Rs. 51 lakh) peak in November. It was last at $35,049 (roughly Rs. 26 lakh), after falling as low as $34,000 (roughly Rs. 25 lakh) and following a steep fall on Friday. Bitcoin price in India stood at Rs. 29.4 lakh as of 10am IST on January 24.

The currency has had wild price swings and has been hit as risk appetite has fallen on inflation fears and anticipation of a more aggressive pace of interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve.

Other risk assets have fallen with stocks falling on Friday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq recorded their biggest weekly percentage drops since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

In a research note on Friday, Edward Moya, senior market analyst for the Americas at OANDA, said bitcoin was falling as “crypto traders de-risk portfolios following the bloodbath in stocks” and in advance of next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting.

“Bitcoin remains in the danger zone and if $37,000 (roughly Rs. 27 lakh) breaks, there is not much support until the $30,000 (roughly Rs. 22.3 lakh) level,” Moya wrote on Friday.

Ether, the coin linked to the Ethereum blockchain network, dropped 6.7 percent to $2,396 on Saturday. Ethereum price in India stood at Rs. 2.04 lakh as of 10am IST on January 24.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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