Investing.com — Bitcoin prices fell on Thursday, stalling below key levels as cryptocurrency markets came under pressure from a rally in the dollar ahead of more Federal Reserve signals in the coming days.
Broader risk sentiment also deteriorated as Wall Street indexes retreated from record highs, although Asian markets were much more upbeat following stimulus measures in China.
fell 1.2% to $63,440.2 at 01:07 ET (05:07 GMT).
Bitcoin Staggers Below $65k Breakout
The world's largest cryptocurrency has retreated from levels close to what traders expect to generate strong gains in the near term.
A Coindesk report said that $65,000 was being pegged as a major resistance level, given that Bitcoin had not traded above that level since early August.
The token has struggled to make any kind of price gains since hitting an all-time high in March, and has traded in a $50,000 to $60,000 price range for most of the year.
Market sentiment was also somewhat spooked by reports that a 13-year-old Bitcoin wallet, with holdings worth around $3 million, had woken up after years of inactivity and moved its tokens to an exchange.
Bitcoin and Ether contracts worth several billion are set to expire on Friday, and are also expected to create some volatility in the cryptocurrency markets.
Attention is also focused on the possible future approval of options linked to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:) by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The approval is expected to attract more institutional capital to cryptocurrencies.
Dollar rally puts pressure on cryptocurrencies, Powell's speech expected
Cryptocurrency markets came under pressure and the dollar rebounded sharply from a more than one-year low on Wednesday.
The dollar's strength came amid some uncertainty about how much further the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in coming months, after a dramatic 50-basis-point cut last week.
Several Fed officials said this week that they supported last week's cut but were uncertain about the pace of future easing. The Fed is scheduled to offer more signals on that front later Thursday.
Important US economic readings are also due out, with a revised reading of second-quarter and weekly data due later on Thursday.
The data – the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation – is due out on Friday.
Cryptocurrency prices today: altcoins are down
Cryptocurrency prices overall remained subdued, with major altcoins following Bitcoin's declines.
The world's No. 2 cryptocurrency fell 0.8% to $2,604.67, while , and moved in a flat to lower range.
Among memecoins, it lost 0.3%.
