First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Slips to $42K From Last Week's Yearly High

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Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, lost ground on Monday after reaching yearly highs last week. Bitcoin fell 3% in the last 24 hours to trade around $42,400 after hitting $45,000 last week. There are a number of factors for the drop in price, with some analysts attributing it to macroeconomic fundamentals. Friday’s economic data from the U.S. came in strong, with better-than-expected nonfarm payrolls and lower employment. The dollar rallied and bitcoin dropped slightly immediately after. The pullback could also stem from investors taking profits after last week's gains. Looking ahead, LMAX Digital said in a note to investors that the outlook for crypto assets into year-end “remains bright.” “We suspect these dips in bitcoin and ether will be eaten up rather quickly, in favor of higher lows and bullish continuations to new yearly highs,” the note said.

Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs brought forward its estimate for the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate cut to third-quarter 2024 from a previous forecast of the fourth quarter, Reuters reported Monday. The shift comes as bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market has surged in recent weeks on a bullish cocktail of an expected spot ETF launch in the U.S., the impending Bitcoin mining reward halving and the decline in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, the so-called risk-free rate. The Fed's benchmark interest rate is currently 5.25% to 5.5%, with traders of the Fed funds futures anticipating a decline to a range starting at 4% by the end of the next year.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest sold another 335,860 shares in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) on Friday, its largest sale since July. ARK offloaded COIN shares across three exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The bulk came from the Innovation ETF (ARKK). The sale would have raised $49.2 million at Coinbase's closing price. The St. Petersburg, FL-based investment manager has been making consistent sales of Coinbase stock in recent weeks as the exchange's shares have appreciated alongside bitcoin's rally. Friday's is the largest since July, when it sold 480,000 shares worth $50.5 million at the time.

Chart of the Day

• The chart shows the best-performing cryptocurrencies of the past 24 hours.
• Smaller coins like INJ, BONK, BIGTIME, JOE and others have risen over 10%, showing resilience amid bitcoin's price drop.
• It's a sign the recent bull market in bitcoin is spreading to the smaller altcoin sector.
• Source: Velo Data

- Omkar Godbole

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