Bitcoin (BTC) price looked steady on Monday despite recording a plunge over the last weekend. The world’s biggest crypto breached the $71k price level last week after witnessing high selling pressure. However, the entire crypto market is embracing itself ahead of the crucial Federal Reserve interest rate decision this week.
Bitcoin struggles ahead of FED meeting
After all the hype around Spot crypto Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), attention now turns to upcoming signals on US interest rates. The Federal Reserve’s decision this week is highly anticipated. Market consensus suggests that the Fed will maintain the current interest rates and there is a 99.4% probability of this happening.
Investors are interested in the Fed’s economic situation analysis and any hints regarding future policy directions. Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) for May would be the economic indicators to watch this week. This will help in assessing the inflation trends and the overall economic climate.
According to reports, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is expected to keep the federal funds rate within the 5.25-5.50% range. It is a 23-year high maintained since last July to curb inflation. Meanwhile. traders largely expect no immediate changes to the monetary policy. Any unexpected moves, either a rate hike to further fight inflation or a rate cut to stimulate the economy would impact financial markets.
What does experts suggest?
The CME Group’s Fedwatch Tool which analyzes fed funds futures data is indicating that traders are now predicting a 50.8% chance of a rate cut in September, down from 68.7% the previous day. This shift in expectations follows a hotter-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report. It suggests stronger wages and job growth, which could exert upward pressure on inflation.
Bitcoin upward trajectory has been several pullbacks over the past few weeks. BTC has seen a marginal price surge over the last 7 days, while, it has dropped by 4% over the last 90 days.
Bitcoin is trading at an average price of $69,457, at the press time, which is not much away from its all time high (ATH). BTC price is still up by 65% on the year to date (YTD) basis. Its 24 hour trading volume is up by 21% to stand at $15.5 billion.
The global digital asset market dropped marginally in the past 24 hours to stand at $2.53 trillion.
