[Bitcoin Now] Plummeting to the $37,000 Range Ahead of Big Step... Altcoins Also Decline

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Myunghwan Lee] Ahead of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) big step (a 50bp hike in the benchmark interest rate at once), investor sentiment has weakened, causing the price of the representative cryptocurrency Bitcoin to decline.

According to the global cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinMarketCap, as of 11 a.m. on the 4th, the price of Bitcoin was $37,886 (approximately 47.72 million KRW), down 1.52% from the previous day.

The prices of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin have been falling since the May Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting where an interest rate hike was confirmed. At the same time, Ethereum was trading at $2,789 (approximately 3.51 million KRW), down 1.79% from the previous day; Luna was down 3.10% at $82.43 (approximately 103,790 KRW); and Solana was trading at $86.09 (approximately 108,400 KRW), down 2.21% from the previous day.

Kapil Rathi, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange CrossTower, diagnosed, "Macroeconomic issues such as the Ukraine war, global supply chain problems, and inflation, which are affecting all countries, are leading to the Fed's tightening policy," adding, "As a result, cryptocurrencies are not performing well." He further explained, "Macroeconomic pressures on both the stock market and cryptocurrencies are appearing simultaneously."

However, the Nasdaq index, which recently has shown a correlation with Bitcoin prices, closed higher. On the 3rd (local time), the tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed at 12,563.76, up 27.74 points (0.22%) from the previous trading day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 67.29 points (0.20%) to 33,128.79, and the large-cap S&P 500 index closed at 4,175.48, up 20.10 points (0.48%).

Meanwhile, the Digital Asset Fear & Greed Index by Dunamu, which operates the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, recorded 46.54 on the day, indicating a 'neutral' stage. This is an increase of 0.66 compared to 45.88 (neutral) the previous day. Dunamu's Digital Asset Fear & Greed Index is divided into stages of 'Extreme Fear (0?20)', 'Fear (20?40)', 'Neutral (40?60)', 'Greed (60?80)', and 'Extreme Greed (80?100)'. The greed direction indicates increased interest in buying by market participants, whereas the fear direction leads to market exits due to fear of asset declines, causing a chain reaction of price drops.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.