2024-03-19 12:43

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters Bernstein, a prominent financial research firm, has outlined a trajectory for the Bitcoin price and cryptocurrency market that it believes could lead to a $7.5 trillion market capitalization. The projection highlights the firm's bullish outlook on Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market’s future, even as a few are currently pulling back from their recent highs. Bitcoin price corrects Bitcoin price is down more than 6% Tuesday, trading above the $63,000 mark after hitting new highs of more than $73,000 last week. The slide took hold over the weekend. However, the selling was not limited to Bitcoin as other cryptocurrencies have experienced a decline while US equity futures are down. Ethereum has fallen more than 7%. The more than 6% fall in BTC has put it on track for its largest one-day fall in two weeks. Even so, the premier cryptocurrency is up around 50% so far in 2024 and more than 125% in the last 12 months. With Bitcoin surging to new highs last week, profit-taking has occurred, while talk regarding the US Federal Reserve potentially not cutting rates this year has also impacted the price. How crypto market cap can reach $7.5 trillion Despite the more recent fall, analysts at Bernstein believe the current phase of Bitcoin consolidation is temporary and offers a dip buying opportunity prior to Bitcoin halving. “We continue to see a cross-cycle 18-month opportunity with Bitcoin and the entire crypto ecosystem,” declared Bernstein.”Overall, Bitcoin is seeing correction ahead of the halving (down ~10% last 7 days). ETF flows are reflexive - higher on the way up and slower with weaker price action.” “Yesterday, Bitcoin ETFs clocked a net outflow of $154mn, the first outflow day since March 1,” they added. “Historically, Bitcoin price action has consolidated ahead of the halving, and considering Bitcoin rallied hard prior to ETFs and post the ETFs launch with record inflows, the correction seems healthy and does not affect our cross-cycle view, i.e that Bitcoin is headed to $150K as the cycle high by 2025.” Bernstein sees the market consolidating prior to halving (April 20, 20224) and then expects the overall bull markets to continue. Looking further ahead, they see the 2025 crypto market cap opportunity at $7.5 trillion, with Bitcoin’s market cap leading the charge, rising to $3 trillion. The firm explained it expects the growth of Bitcoin with ETFs continuing to drive adoption within asset portfolios across RIAs, private banks, and wirehouses, while it also sees the Bitcoin ETF industry assets under management (AUM) growing from $60 billion today to $300 billion by the end of the cycle in 2025. “We expect Bitcoin halving and weak circulating float on exchanges to keep Bitcoin supply constrained relative to the strong demand by ETFs,” added Bernstein. Meanwhile, it sees the Ethereum ecosystem hitting a $1.8 trillion market cap. The Ethereum ecosystem consists of the Ethereum network, ETH staking infrastructure, Ethereum layer 2 chains, and Ethereum-based DeFi infrastructure. “We expect SEC to approve the ETH ETF over the next 12 months,” stated Bernstein. “We stack the chances of ETH ETF approval by April/August 2024 at 50%. Ethereum is the only other digital asset likely to get an approved ETF this cycle> Finally, other leading Blockchain ecosystems, such as Solana, BNB chain, Avalanche, Aptos, and SUI, are expected to reach $1.4 trillion. “We expect Solana to lead the charge of fast throughput blockchains, which offer a more optimum design and user experience for more consumer-driven applications i.e., stablecoin payments and consumer gaming,” concluded the firm. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/75-trillion-crypto-market-cap-bernstein-says-this-is-what-needs-to-happen-3343954

2024-03-19 12:18

Copyrighted Image by: Shutterstock Microstrategy, Inc. (MSTR) bought another 9,245 bitcoins between March 11-18 Microstrategy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) announced that, during the period between March 11, 2024 and March 18, 2024, MicroStrategy acquired approximately 9,245 bitcoins for approximately $623.0 million in cash, using $592.3 million of proceeds from the Offering and $30.7 million of Excess Cash (defined in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023), at an average price of approximately $67,382 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. As of March 18, 2024, MicroStrategy, together with its subsidiaries, held an aggregate of approximately 214,246 bitcoins, which were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $7.53 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $35,160 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/microstrategy-inc-bought-another-9245-bitcoins-between-march-1118-432SI-3343834

2024-03-19 10:25

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters. Investing.com - The U.S. dollar gained in European trade Tuesday ahead of the start of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, while the Japanese yen slumped despite the Bank of Japan ending its negative interest rate policy. At 04:00 ET (09:00 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.4% higher at 103.640, not far off a two-week high hit earlier in the session. Dollar in demand ahead of Fed meeting The U.S. currency has seen demand Tuesday, climbing near to two-week highs after a recent run of resilient U.S. inflation data prompted traders to adjust expectations for the pace and scale of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. Fed officials get together later in the session Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday's policy announcement, which will be scrutinised for clues to how soon the central bank could start easing rates. “With the market now just pricing 68bp of Fed cuts this year, the FOMC could prove a mild dollar negative,” said analysts at ING, in a note. “For the time being, however, the risk of the Fed Dots shifting to just 50bp of cuts this year could continue to prompt some modest dollar short covering.” Yen slumps despite BOJ hike USD/JPY traded 1% higher to 150.62, with the Japanese yen weakening sharply despite the Bank of Japan raising interest rates by 0.1%, bringing them to neutral territory after nearly a decade of negative rates. The bank also signaled an end to its yield curve control and asset purchase policies. However, the central bank also said that uncertainty over the Japanese economy will keep monetary conditions largely accommodative for the “time being.” A pivot away from negative interest rates was widely expected, and it marks only a marginal move away from its ultra-dovish stance, meaning the Japanese currency remained under pressure. “The problem for the yen,” said ING analysts, “is that volatility remains exceptionally low and the carry trade exceptionally popular.” “USD/JPY may well trade in a 150-152 range for the time being … and a lower USD/JPY will have to be led from the dollar side.” Euro drops to two-week lows EUR/USD traded 0.3% lower to 1.0839, falling near to two-week lows on the back of dollar strength, even as German economic sentiment showed an improvement in March. There is growing expectation that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates in early summer, with Vice President Luis de Guindos on Tuesday, joining a long list of policymakers putting the June 6 meeting on the table for a potential start of policy easing. "We haven’t yet discussed anything about future rate moves," de Guindos told Greek newspaper Naftemporiki in an interview. "We need to gather more information. In June we will also have our new projections and we will be ready to discuss this." GBP/USD traded 0.4% lower at 1.2674, also near a two-week low, ahead of Thursday’s Bank of England rate-setting meeting, which is widely expected to see unchanged forward guidance. USD/CHF traded largely unchanged at 0.8878, with the Swiss National Bank also expected to keep interest rates unchanged on Thursday. The SNB announced earlier Tuesday that it sold foreign currency worth 132.9 billion Swiss francs (around $150 billion) in 2023 in an attempt to combat imported inflation, a massive increase from the 22.3 billion francs in foreign currencies sold in 2022. The SNB has said it would no longer focus on foreign currency sales. Aussie dollar retreats after RBA meeting Elsewhere, AUD/USD fell 0.7% to 0.6511 after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept interest rates steady, but struck a less hawkish tone than markets were expecting. The RBA did not offer an explicit warning that interest rates could rise higher to combat sticky inflation, and instead offered largely vague cues on monetary policy remaining tight to offset high price pressures. https://www.investing.com/news/forex-news/dollar-gains-ahead-of-fed-meeting-yen-slumps-despite-boj-hike-3343501

2024-03-19 08:56

Investing.com - Ethereum was trading at $3,235.87 by 04:55 (08:55 GMT) on the Investing.com Index on Tuesday, down 10.08% on the day. It was the largest one-day percentage loss since November 9, 2022. The move downwards pushed Ethereum's market cap down to $396.62B, or 16.51% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. At its highest, Ethereum's market cap was $569.58B. Ethereum had traded in a range of $3,235.86 to $3,546.23 in the previous twenty-four hours. Over the past seven days, Ethereum has seen a drop in value, as it lost 17.14%. The volume of Ethereum traded in the twenty-four hours to time of writing was $26.51B or 16.08% of the total volume of all cryptocurrencies. It has traded in a range of $3,231.9666 to $4,078.4824 in the past 7 days. At its current price, Ethereum is still down 33.47% from its all-time high of $4,864.06 set on November 10, 2021. Elsewhere in cryptocurrency trading Bitcoin was last at $63,239.3 on the Investing.com Index, down 7.06% on the day. Tether USDt was trading at $0.9999 on the Investing.com Index, a gain of 0.06%. Bitcoin's market cap was last at $1,259.69B or 52.44% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, while Tether USDt's market cap totaled $103.57B or 4.31% of the total cryptocurrency market value. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/ethereum-falls-10-in-rout-3343369

2024-03-19 05:52

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters. Investing.com-- Gold prices fell slightly in Asian trade on Tuesday, but remained above key support levels as markets remained largely averse towards precious metals before a key Federal Reserve meeting this week. Among industrial metals, copper prices inched lower, but remained in sight of 11-month highs after a stellar rally over the past three sessions. Bullion prices recovered some lost ground this week, retaking the $2,150 an ounce support level on Monday as uncertainty over the Fed’s stance persisted. But the yellow metal also remained well below record highs hit earlier in March. Spot gold fell 0.1% to $2,158.26 an ounce, while gold futures expiring in April fell 0.1% to $2,161.35 an ounce by 01:30 ET (05:30 GMT). Dollar strong ahead of Fed meeting, pressures gold Strength in the dollar was a key weight on gold prices, as anticipation of the Fed meeting and dovish signals from the Bank of Japan kept traders largely biased towards the greenback. The dollar index rose to a two-week high on Tuesday after clocking strong gains over the past two sessions. The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates steady at the conclusion of a two-day meeting on Wednesday. But markets feared any potentially hawkish signals from the central bank, particularly a dialing down in its interest rate cut forecasts, following hotter-than-expected inflation data for the past two months. Higher-for-longer rates bode poorly for gold and other precious metals, given that high rates push up the opportunity cost of investing in the sector. Platinum futures fell 0.7% to $913.15 an ounce, while silver futures fell 0.3% to $25.192 an ounce. Copper prices edge lower, but remain close to recent peaks Three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.5% to $9,046.0 a ton, while one-month U.S. copper futures fell 0.6% to $4.1052 a pound. But the two instruments remained in sight of 11-month peaks hit on Monday, as the prospect of a deficit in Chinese refined copper supplies triggered a sharp melt-up in copper prices. The copper rally was further boosted by stronger-than-expected industrial production data from China, which is the world’s largest copper importer. https://www.investing.com/news/commodities-news/gold-prices-hover-above-2150-ahead-of-fed-meeting-copper-edges-lower-3343245

2024-03-19 05:48

Investing.com - Cardano was trading at $0.6185 by 01:48 (05:48 GMT) on the Investing.com Index on Tuesday, down 10.85% on the day. It was the largest one-day percentage loss since December 16, 2022. The move downwards pushed Cardano's market cap down to $22.2889B, or 0.91% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. At its highest, Cardano's market cap was $94.8001B. Cardano had traded in a range of $0.6184 to $0.6659 in the previous twenty-four hours. Over the past seven days, Cardano has seen a drop in value, as it lost 17.8%. The volume of Cardano traded in the twenty-four hours to time of writing was $881.0385M or 0.57% of the total volume of all cryptocurrencies. It has traded in a range of $0.6184 to $0.8097 in the past 7 days. At its current price, Cardano is still down 80.04% from its all-time high of $3.10 set on September 2, 2021. Elsewhere in cryptocurrency trading Bitcoin was last at $64,675.4 on the Investing.com Index, down 5.82% on the day. Ethereum was trading at $3,357.92 on the Investing.com Index, a loss of 7.60%. Bitcoin's market cap was last at $1,275.5590B or 52.26% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, while Ethereum's market cap totaled $405.1558B or 16.60% of the total cryptocurrency market value. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/cardano-falls-11-in-rout-3343244