Bitcoin’s price fell below $60,000 on Wednesday as initial optimism about the Fed’s rate cuts began to fade. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has suffered a significant decline in the past 24 hours.
This marks a 12% drop over the past three months and places Bitcoin 20% below its all-time high of nearly $74,000 set in March.
The cause of the widespread losses was not immediately clear, but one possible explanation is that traders cashed out profits after a brief rally following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium last Friday.
Powell hinted in his speech that the central bank is almost certain to start cutting interest rates in September. Historically, lower interest rates have benefited cryptocurrencies because they are thought to offer better returns than safer investments like government bonds. Bitcoin’s price initially rose after Powell’s comments but has since erased all those gains.
According to FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich, the recent drop in Bitcoin’s price can also be attributed to a lack of trading volume, a common occurrence in late August when markets tend to slow down. “The market appears to have been largely dragged down by auto-stop orders during light trading hours,” Kuptsikevich wrote in a morning research note.
“Such sales often push out leveraged investors but can also attract long-term buyers looking to buy at lower prices.”
*This is not investment advice.