Investing.com-- Bitcoin price dropped slightly on Tuesday, moving to the lower end of a trading range established in the past month as investors continued to pull out of U.S.-listed crypto investment products.
The launch of spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) in Hong Kong sparked some joy as markets waited to see just how much Asian demand was in store for crypto, but not enough to lift the biggest cryptocurrency to the green territory.
Bitcoin rose 1.7% over the past 24 hours to $61,190.1 by 08:04 ET (12:04 GMT).
Bitcoin ETFs see sustained outflows
Data from digital assets manager CoinShares showed on Monday that crypto investment products saw a third straight week of capital outflows- $345 million, their biggest since March.
Bitcoin net outflows in particular surged to $423 million, amid waning hype over the spot U.S. ETFs launched earlier this year.
While altcoins saw some capital inflows, this was largely offset by the Bitcoin outflows. Institutional investors have also remained largely biased towards the world’s largest cryptocurrency, after the ETF launch earlier this year.
HK spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs gain in debut, but-
Six spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs rose in their debut on Hong Kong markets on Tuesday, indicating some enthusiasm for crypto.
But just how much these gains would translate into crypto prices remained unclear, given that Hong Kong capital markets are much smaller than their U.S. peers.
Regional markets did enter a bull market this week, as the Hang Seng index rebounded 20% from over five-year lows hit in January. But overall sentiment still remained fragile, especially in the face of weak economic conditions in the mainland.
Still, the Hong Kong crypto ETFs are effectively the only means of crypto exposure for local and Chinese investors, after China banned all cryptocurrencies in 2021.
Crypto price today: little moves as Fed fears grow
Sentiment towards cryptocurrencies was also quashed by growing fears of higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates, ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting this week.
The Fed is widely expected to keep rates steady. But Chair Jerome Powell could potentially serve up hawkish signals, especially in the wake of several hotter-than-expected inflation readings.
This kept investors averse towards crypto, given that the sector usually thrives in highly speculative markets brought on by low interest rates.
World no.2 token Ethereum fell 4.7%, while Solana shed 4.3%. XRP added 1.7%
MicroStrategy now holds 1% of total Bitcoin supply
MicroStrategy, which describes itself as the “world’s first Bitcoin Development Company,” reported its financial results for the fiscal Q1 on Monday.
The company said it successfully raised over $1.5 billion and utilized these funds to purchase an additional 25,250 bitcoins.
The acquisition brings MicroStrategy’s total bitcoin holdings to 214,400 BTC, valued at approximately $13.6 billion, representing nearly 1% of the total circulating bitcoin supply of 19.7 million tokens, Canaccord Genuity (TSX:CF) analysts highlighted in a note.
For Q1, MicroStrategy reported a significant growth in subscription services revenue, attributed to its transition to cloud-based operations.
Despite this, the software company recorded a net operating loss of $53.1 million for the quarter, following a digital asset impairment charge of $191.6 million.
Canaccord maintained a Buy rating on the stock but slashed the target price from $1,810 to $1,590. MSTR shares fell 6% in premarket trading Tuesday.