Written by Mary Liu for BitpushNews, the cryptocurrency market faced downward pressure at the start of the week.
According to Bitpush data, Bitcoin broke below the $66,000 support level in early trading on Monday, hitting a low of $65,046 at midday. Subsequent buying pressure pushed the price back up to $67,286, but the bullish momentum was not sustained. As of the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin stood at $66,580.16 with a 0% 24-hour volatility.
Among the top 200 tokens by market cap on Monday, only 5 tokens saw gains of over 1%. Convex Finance (CVX) led the gains with a 25.3% increase, followed by cat in a dogs world (MEW) at 19.7% and XRP at 5.8%. zkSync (ZK) suffered the largest decline at 24.3%, followed by io.net (IO) at 22.1% and ConstitutionDAO (PEOPLE) at 18.7%.
The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies currently stands at $2.41 trillion, with Bitcoin’s market dominance at 54.6%.
In traditional markets, stocks related to artificial intelligence remained popular, with the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 indices climbing to new highs, rising by 0.9% and 1.2% respectively.
Some analysts adjusted their year-end targets for the S&P 500 index, with Evercore ISI raising its target to 6,000 points and Goldman Sachs expecting the index to reach 5,600 points.
The question remains whether the first rate cut will come in September or at the end of the year. The FedWatch tool from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange indicates a 64% chance of a rate cut in September. However, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari suggested in an interview with CBS on Sunday that the central bank may only cut rates once this year, likely waiting until December.
In a summer slump since March, Bitcoin has been trading sideways within a narrow range. Alex Thorn, Director of Research at digital asset investment firm Galaxy, noted that Bitcoin’s 30-day realized volatility has dropped to near historic lows, indicating a lackluster price trend.
Additionally, a report from CoinShares on June 17 revealed the largest outflow of funds from digital asset exchange-traded products and funds since March 22, amounting to $600 million. The total assets under management for crypto funds dropped from $100 billion to $94 billion.
Analysts at Secure Digital Markets believe that investors are shifting towards “quality assets” following the Federal Reserve’s firm stance, moving capital from riskier investments to safer assets to minimize losses during uncertain times.
Charlie Morris, Chief Analyst at ByteTree, suggested that Bitcoin’s weak state may persist for a few more months based on on-chain data showing a decline in the value of dollar transactions.
Morris stated, “I don’t know how long this will continue, but it seems like a decisive change. We shouldn’t be surprised by a breakdown in the downtrend, as predictions of Bitcoin reaching new highs post-halving have yet to materialize. Despite strong inflows into ETFs this year, prices continue to struggle above $70,000. Today, the price is back below the 30-day moving average, trending down to 2/5. However, it remains in a long-term uptrend.”
He added, “My argument remains unchanged that Bitcoin will break out in October after going through a summer lull. This has happened in 2016 and 2020. Following the halving, the Bitcoin network undergoes a six-month consolidation period before stabilizing from pre-halving speculation.”
Market analyst TedTalksMacro emphasized the importance of this week for Bitcoin, stating, “Maintaining the $66,000 support level is crucial for Bitcoin in the coming week. If broken, sellers may dominate the market and force long positions to liquidate quickly.”
