Investing.com — Bitcoin prices fell on Monday, extending a sell-off seen over the weekend as sentiment toward cryptocurrency markets remained fragile following a deep slump over the past month.
Cryptocurrencies saw some relief late last week, following a rally in broader financial markets as investors bet that fears of a US recession were overblown.
But this notion lost steam over the weekend, as crypto tokens suffered a prolonged sell-off over the past two days.
The company's shares fell 4.3% to $58,520.70 at 01:52 ET (05:52 GMT). Trading volumes were also somewhat subdued due to a holiday in the Japanese market.
Bitcoin remains range-bound after falling to $49k
The world's largest cryptocurrency has been hovering between $50,000 and $60,000 over the past week, after dipping as low as $49,000 earlier.
Sentiment towards risk-driven markets remained tense, especially in anticipation of key US inflation data on Wednesday, which will offer further clues on the Federal Reserve's plans to cut interest rates.
While stock markets have seen some recovery in recent sessions, with Asian stocks advancing on Monday, cryptocurrencies have lagged behind in this rally, given the more speculative nature of the market.
Dollar resilience also weighed, as the greenback saw capital inflows as traders prepared for Wednesday's inflation reading. The reading is expected to show inflation cooled further in July, giving the Fed more confidence to begin cutting interest rates.
Cryptocurrency price today: Altcoins fall, XRP rally fades
Broader cryptocurrency markets also retreated as Bitcoin selling spread to major altcoins.
The world's No. 2 token fell 4.3% to $2,549.22.
fell 4.7% to $0.5625, retreating from a strong rally last week.
XRP issuer Labs has been ordered to pay a fraction of the fines sought by the Securities and Exchange Commission for the company's illegal sale of securities.
But the case has yet to provide any regulatory clarity on whether crypto tokens are considered securities.
Among other altcoins, and fell by 5.8% and 8.3%, respectively.
Memetokens lost more than 6% each.
