After a number of small rallies were quickly countered by selling, the price of bitcoin {{BTC}} stayed below $66,000 late in the day during U.S. trading hours on Wednesday.
Bitcoin remained nearly unchanged over the last day, trading at $65,800 as of this writing. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) both had 10% falls, causing the wider CoinDesk 20 Index to fall 0.7%.
After a weaker-than-expected report on U.S. service industry growth in March and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's statement that he still expects rate cuts this year despite persistently rosy inflation and economic data, Bitcoin managed to stage two rallies on Wednesday, reaching a level near $66,500.
The middle of February until the middle of March was when bitcoin's 2024 rise was at its strongest. At the same time as Grayscale's GBTC was selling in large quantities, the spot ETFs were accumulating 5,000-13,000 bitcoin daily. Since then, though, buying into the other ETFs has slowed, while large bitcoin sales have persisted at GBTC. There have been numerous days when the overall net flows into the spot ETF category have become negative.
In the same vein, after reaching a high of around $73,500 on March 12, the price of bitcoin has fallen by around 10%.
Considering the big picture, This year's anticipated catalysts included spot ETFs and looser monetary policy from the Federal Reserve. However, economic statistics have cast doubt on that argument.
Even though inflation had been falling continuously throughout 2023, it has begun to rise again in the first few months of 2024. It is still far higher than the Fed's 2% target, coming in at 3.2% year-over-year in February. Moreover, official data shows that the economy is still expanding at a steady rate, with over 200,000 new jobs added every month so far this year and the unemployment rate staying at record lows.
On Wednesday, ADP announced that private payrolls increased by 184,000 in March, which was more than both February's 155,000 and predictions of 148,000. Friday morning's government Nonfarm Payrolls data is going to be the key event in terms of jobs. Economists are predicting 200,000 additions.
Recent solid data has brought the 10-year Treasury yield to 4.43%, its highest level since 2024, and the dollar to its best level since November. These developments may have a dampening effect on the prices of risk assets, including bitcoin.
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