Investing.com– The price of bitcoin barely moved on Friday, as traders remained hesitant about cryptocurrencies ahead of key U.S. inflation data that is likely to weigh on the outlook for interest rates. interest, although the token was still posting strong gains in May.
Cryptocurrency prices took little relief from the overnight drop in the , as fears of longer high interest rates remained in play despite a downward revision to first-quarter data .
It rose 0.5% in the last 24 hours to $68,489.9 at 01:13 ET (05:13 GMT), and was forecast to rise nearly 13% in May.
But despite its gains during the month, the token still remained within a trading range of between $60,000 and $70,000 established since mid-March.
Inflation and interest rates in focus ahead of PCE data
Rate fears were the biggest factor behind Bitcoin's range-bound performance, as the prospect of high interest rates dampened the price outlook for the token and the broader crypto market.
A series of Federal Reserve officials warned in recent sessions that the central bank had little confidence that inflation was slowing, which in turn clouded its plans to begin cutting interest rates.
His comments came ahead of the release of key data, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge. The reading will be released later on Friday and is expected to show that inflation cooled slightly in April but remained well above the Federal Reserve's second annual target.
The prospect of higher rates for longer does not bore crypto markets as it portends tight liquidity and diminishes the appeal of high-risk speculative assets.
Crypto Price Today: Altcoins Silenced, Ether Set for Great May Due to ETF Enthusiasm
The broader crypto markets traded slightly lower on Friday.
The world's No. 2 token fell more than 1% to $3,746.50. But the altcoin was expected to add nearly 25% in May, with most of its gains coming over the past week after the Securities and Exchange Commission marked some progress toward approving an exchange-traded fund that tracks directly the token. But no decision had yet been made on the actual listing of an Ether spot ETF.
Other altcoins fell. fell 1.6%, while SOL fell 2.8%. It also had a standout performance in April, with a 30% increase.
Among meme tokens, it fell between 3.6% and 7.7% on Friday. But PEPE was trading at more than 100% in May.
