Investing.com-- Bitcoin price slid on Friday, reversing a recent rebound as traders remained largely on edge over selling pressure from distributions by defunct exchange Mt Gox, as well as capitulation pressure on major miners.
The token and the broader crypto market took little support from a drop in the dollar, as softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data ramped up bets that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates from September.
A rout in heavyweight technology stocks, which dragged down Wall Street, kept risk appetite relatively subdued, even as bets on interest rate cuts increased.
Bitcoin fell 2.7% in the past 24 hours to $57,227.2 by 08:50 ET (12:50 GMT), sinking as low as $56,551.
Bitcoin heads for fifth week of losses amid capitulation fears
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was set to lose over 2% this week- its fifth consecutive week of losses.
Losses in the token were driven by persistent concerns over token distributions by defunct exchange Mt Gox, which said it had begun returning Bitcoin stolen in a 2014 hack back to creditors. Traders speculated that receivers of the token would be inclined to sell, given the token’s massive price spike over the past decade.
While Mt Gox’s liquidators did not specify the size of its planned distribution, wallets linked to the exchange were seen moving about $9 billion of Bitcoin earlier this year.
Bitcoin’s losses sparked concerns that major miners of the token may be forced into selling their holdings to break even, especially as Bitcoin mining rewards fell sharply earlier this year with the halving event.
Bitcoin sales by the German state of Saxony- of tokens confiscated from a piracy website- also kept sentiment towards Bitcoin dim, especially as reports said the government held at least $2 billion of the token.
Still, Bitcoin was trading above four-month lows hit last week, as price declines attracted a slew of bargain buying. Optimism over interest rate cuts also offered some relief to risk-driven crypto markets.
JPM sees crypto rebound in August
Analysts at JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) said in a recent note that they expected crypto markets to rebound in August, and that selling pressure on Bitcoin, from Mt Gox and other liquidations, would abate by the end of July.
JPM analysts also noted that Bitcoin reserves on major exchanges were reducing- a trend that could herald high prices, especially if supply is unable to keep up with demand.
Crypto price today: altcoins nurse losses
Broader crypto markets saw little signs of improvement, as selling pressure on Bitcoin spilled over into altcoins.
World no.2 token Ether dropped 2.7% to $3,064.50, taking only limited support from speculation over a spot Ether exchange-traded fund.
XRP and ADA rose 3.7% and 0.1%, respectively, while SOL dropped 5.6%.
Among meme tokens, SHIB sank 5.7% while DOGE lost 5.4%.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs see five straight days of inflows
U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw a daily net inflow of $78.93 million on Thursday, marking the fifth consecutive day of positive inflows.
BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest spot bitcoin ETF by net asset value, led the day with $72.09 million in net inflows, according to SoSoValue data. It was also the most traded bitcoin ETF on Wednesday, with a volume of $725.61 million. Fidelity’s FBTC attracted $32.69 million in net inflows.
Bitwise’s spot bitcoin fund brought in $7.53 million, while the ETF from Ark Invest and 21Shares added $4.31 million.
Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC experienced net outflows of $37.69 million on Wednesday. Six other funds, including VanEck’s HODL, reported no flows.
On July 11, a total of $1.31 billion was traded in U.S. spot bitcoin funds. Despite this, trading volumes remain significantly lower than in March, when volumes exceeded $8 billion on several days.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs have accumulated total net inflows of $15.5 billion since their launch in January.