Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies advanced on Monday as traders looked to push digital assets out of a stagnant range that has dominated for the past month, with the days ahead holding a key macroeconomic catalyst that could shift the needle.
The price of Bitcoin rose 1% over the past 24 hours to above $26,750, moving further from the $26,000 level around which the largest digital asset has traded since mid-August. A move above the $27,000 mark would be a psychological win for traders as Bitcoin continues to suffer from historically low volatility and low trading volumes, a sign of waning interest in the crypto space in recent months.
As with the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500
in the stock market, the looming Federal Reserve decision this week is likely to move crypto prices. The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates steady when it releases its next decision on Wednesday, with investors poised to scrutinize language from the central bank over whether another rate hike is likely in November.
Borrowing costs have risen to a generational peak since last year as the Fed sought to rein in inflation, heaping significant pressure on cryptos and stocks alike, because higher returns on risk-free cash tends to dampen demand for riskier bets such as Bitcoin. Signs that the central bank is done hiking rates and may begin lowering them next year have the potential to accelerate recent gains for Bitcoin if traders start piling back into riskier assets—and it could be the catalyst cryptos need to shake off their funk.
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
—the second-largest crypto—rose less than 1% to $1,630. Smaller tokens, or altcoins, were muted with
Cardano
and
Polygon
both trading above flat. Memecoins were more mixed, with
Dogecoin
down near 1% and
Shiba Inu
shedding less than 1%.
Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
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