Investing.com– The price of bitcoin fell on Monday, extending a deep decline last week, as concerns about U.S. interest rates and anticipation of key inflation data kept traders largely biased towards the dollar.
Broader cryptocurrency prices were also pressured by a strong dollar, as the greenback approached a two-month high following strong US Purchasing Managers' Index data.
fell 2.4% in the last 24 hours to $62,850.7 at 00:59 ET (04:59 GMT).
Bitcoin pressured by dollar strength, PCE inflation expected
The world's largest cryptocurrency suffered heavy losses over the past week as traders became skeptical about the timing of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
This sentiment is likely to see little sign of improvement this week, especially ahead of key data due this Friday.
The reading is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge and is likely to influence the central bank's outlook on interest rates in the coming months. While Friday's data is expected to show a slight cooling in inflation, the reading is still expected to remain well above the Federal Reserve's 2% annual target, giving the central bank more room to maintain high rates.
High rates bode poorly for cryptocurrencies, as they diminish the appeal of risk-driven speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Price Today: Altcoins Sink More Than Bitcoin
Major altcoins experienced much deeper losses than Bitcoin, as a large number of token unlocks, declining institutional demand, and a healthy dose of profit-taking pressured cryptocurrency prices.
Recent capital flow data showed that institutional demand, especially for crypto investment products, remained largely focused on Bitcoin. But even Bitcoin was seen recording strong outflows in early June.
The world's No. 2 token fell 4.2% to $3,366.81, hitting a one-month low, as it largely consolidated gains made on the back of enthusiasm for a spot Ether exchange-traded fund.
sank 3.3%, while and fell 4.3% and 7.4%, respectively. Both tokens had seen some gains in the past few sessions.
Among meme tokens, they fell by 4.7% and 5.8%, respectively.
