The Bitcoin price hit its lowest since April on Monday morning as traders dumped the asset.
The Bitcoin price extended a week-long sell-off on Monday morning to hit its lowest level since the steep decline in April around US President Trump’s Liberation Day plan to spark a global trade war.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency is now down 9 per cent over the last five days to a seven-month low of $US93,043 ($142,362) as investors also dump the token on worries the US Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates at its monetary policy meeting on December 10.
“People thought the US Fed cutting (rates in December) was a foregone conclusion, but now it’s unclear, so that’s prompted some selling,” said Cameron Gleeson, a senior investment strategist at Betashares. “There’s also been a risk-off sentiment in the broader market.”
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Bitcoin is still up around 30 per cent since President Trump’s November 5, 2024, election victory, as his pro-cryptocurrency administration moved to deregulate the sector amid his family’s significant financial interests in the sector.
However, last week crypto markets saw a record $US1.8 billion of net outflows from exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including the largest single day of outflows for the flagship Bitcoin ETF product of investment giant BlackRock, according to Rachel Lucas, a strategist at BTC Markets.
Ms Lucas added that Bitcoin’s price has also fallen below key technical levels related to its moving average, which prompts algorithmic traders to sell.
“So, it’s a perfect storm of institutional outflows and technical stress,” she said. “Macro conditions aren’t helping either with sticky inflation and delayed rate cuts.”
Other cryptocurrencies have also tumbled over the past week, including Ethereum, Solana and XRP. “Bitcoin tends to move the whole market and the other coins move in lockstep with it,” said Ms Lucas.
Historically Bitcoin markets have also followed Wall Street higher or lower, with US share futures flat as of Monday morning.
