The crypto market is known for its volatility. More than that, it is known for housing turbulence; most of it makes it to the surface and then the reports. Volatility entails fluctuations in the price, and turbulence pertains to incidents that catch tons of attention.
That said, BTC and ETH are working to find a way back to their recent ATHs. BTC is slightly up by 1.76%, and ETH has slipped by 0.80% in the last 24 hours at the time of drafting this article. They are now listed at $66,821.59 and $3,277.99, respectively.
Turbulence has been triggered by incidents like the 25-year imprisonment for Sam Bankman-Fried, Bitcoin ETF outflows, and rate-cut expectations, to mention a few.
For starters, Sam Bankman-Fried is now certain to face 25 years of imprisonment for misusing approximately $8 billion of users’ funds. He has been found guilty of committing fraud and designing ways to deploy funds in a way they were not supposed to—real estate purchases, political donations, etc.
The initial reports that had come out led to the fall and collapse of FTX, once a dominant platform in the market. That had a ripple effect on the rest of the tokens.
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Next, the year 2024 started with the expectation that there would be rate cuts—6 to be precise. However, that has been revised, and the best that could happen is three-quarters of a percentage by the end of the year. May can go without any cuts. The latest that a decision will be delivered for a cut is in the June meeting.
The S&P slipped by 0.72% on Tuesday, and the Nasdaq dragged a larger portion of 0.94% on the same day. A change in the rate cut expectation has had a tangible effect on the price of BTC. The expansion in US manufacturing in March and the acceleration in the personal consumer expenditure price index in February suggest that the economy is recovering. What poses a contradiction is the fear of inflation rising again.
ETF outflows have been leveled previously, but ARK 21Shares, which is coming out to post the same, has raised questions about whether there is a time when the market will relax. Tuesday bagged an outflow of $0.3 million, followed by an outflow of $87.5 million the next day. This has outpaced GBTC for the first time since the Bitcoin ETF made its way into the market.
Finally, altcoins and meme coins were drawing a lot of attention. That has softened with altcoins registering a pullback and meme coins experiencing price corrections. In other words, they are listed at a lower price despite the shift in investor sentiments. AI tokens had created huge momentum in their favor. That has eased, too, with the likes of FET, RNDR, and WLD dropping by 13.9%, 13.3%, and 18.7%, respectively, in the last 7 days.
AI tokens represent a convergence of Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology. They are down at the moment, but they could soon turn the trend.
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Meme coins are down except for WIF or dogwifhat. Its market cap was last seen above the milestone of $4 billion, and the token traded with an uptick of 20% in the last seven days. The weekly sentiment has dropped, and in the previous 24 hours, WIF has shed 10.72% of its value, now listed at $3.32 at the time of drafting this article.
These events have collectively affected the price of cryptocurrencies—to the extent that they have lost their recent ATH—and now they are looking up to the next big event for a surge: Bitcoin’s Halving.
