Bitcoin, Ether Fail to Retain Profits Amid US Mulling Another Interest Rate Hike, Altcoins Suffer Too

The cryptocurrency market on Tuesday, May 2, witnessed significant losses in the backdrop of the US financial authorities mulling another interest rate hike there, to fight against inflation. Bitcoin on Tuesday recorded a price point of $27,648 (roughly Rs. 22.8 lakh) after seeing a loss of 2.17 percent. This is the second time in the last two weeks that Bitcoin has dropped to the $27,000 (roughly Rs. 22 lakh) mark. This also seems to be its support value for the time being. In the last 24 hours, the most expensive cryptocurrency lost $912 (roughly Rs. 74,570) from its price owing to market volatility.

Ether dropped by 1.20 percent on Tuesday to trade at $1,826 (roughly Rs. 1.50 lakh). Ether, that has been hovering around the $1,800 (roughly Rs. 1.47 lakh) price mark for a while now, did not see any major dip. The second-most expensive cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, ETH, lost $21 (roughly Rs. 1,717) over the last day.

“Crypto markets came under selling pressure in the last 24 hours. Crypto fear and greed index stands at 55, down from 63 points yesterday, hinting towards shaky but still bullish investor sentiments. This week, investors will be closely following the developments from the Feds around interest rates,” Parth Chaturvedi, Crypto Ecosystem Lead, CoinSwitch told Gadgets 360.

With both, Bitcoin and Ether slipping down the price ladder, majority cryptocurrencies reflected losses on Gadgets 360's crypto price tracker.

These include stablecoins Tether, USD Coin, Ripple, and Binance USD.

Other cryptocurrencies including Binance Coin, Cardano, Dogecoin, Solana, Polkadot, Shiba Inu, and Litecoin also recorded losses.

The overall crypto market valuation dropped by 1.50 percent in the last 24 hours. As per CoinMarketCap, the sector valuation stands at $1.16 trillion (roughly Rs. 95,11,075 crore) as of Tuesday.

Industry insiders have put out a word of caution to crypto investors to tread lightly for some days in terms of pouring in hefty investments.

“The market is closely monitoring the Federal Reserve's interest rate developments, which is scheduled for Wednesday, May 3, as well as the non-farm payroll data for April, that is set to be released on Friday, May 5,” Edul Patel, the CEO and Co-Founder of Mudrex crypto investment firm told Gadgets 360.

Meanwhile, profits were minted by relatively unknown cryptocurrencies today. These include BurgerCities, Gas, and Status.

Industry insiders have also begun taking crypto seriously after the banking crisis deepend in the US in recent weeks.

“Bitcoin (BTC) fell amid the news of First Republic Bank's takeover by federal regulators. However, it bounced back to $28,500 (roughly Rs. 23.3 lakh) when JPMorgan won the auction to purchase First Republic's assets. Analysts suggest the banking sector is now prepared to deal with crises, assuaging Wall Street's concerns about banking risks,” Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX told Gadgets 360.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.