June 17, 2024, 3:32 am EDT
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were mixed early on Monday. The crypto sector continues to react to muted prospects for interest-rate cuts this year.
-1.56%
was down 0.4% over the past 24 hours to $65,981. Bitcoin hit a record high near $74,000 in mid-March amid a surge of interest from new spot exchange-traded funds but its price has dropped since then.
Cryptocurrencies, like other risk assets, have been held back by relatively high bond yields as the market scales back expectations for interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
“We are still within the wide channel of price consolidation delimited by $60,000-$72,000, waiting for new catalysts that move prices out of that range,” wrote Javier Molina, an eToro markets analyst, in a research note.
-2.28%
—the second-largest crypto—was down 0.2% at $3,561 but is up 15% over the past month.
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved critical rule changes to allow spot Ether exchange-traded funds to trade. The final approvals for the ETFs should come this summer, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler told senators in a recent budget hearing.
Smaller cryptos or altcoins were in the red, with Solana
-4.06%
gaining 2.2% and Cardano
ADAUSD
-3.45%
losing 0.9%. Dogecoin
DOGEUSD
-1.71%
dropped 1.4%.
