Bitcoin, Ether extend losses; all eyes on US interest rates

by James · March 21, 2023

Bitcoin and Ether fell in trading in Asia on Tuesday afternoon after rallying over the past week, as financial authorities injected cash into markets to ease liquidity pressures and took other steps to address concerns over a crisis in the banking sector in the United States and Europe.

See related article: Crypto must look overseas as US exchanges become unbanked

Fast facts

Bitcoin – the world’s largest cryptocurrency – lost 2.44% to US$27,575 in the 24 hours to 16:00 in Hong Kong, according to CoinMarketCap data, and gained 13.09% for the week. Ethereum fell 3.42% to $1,735, after gaining 3.49% in the last seven days.
Most of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptos were down, with Polygon’s Matic token leading the losses, falling 5.08% to $1.10 on the day and 5.7% on the week. Dogecoin was the second biggest loser, falling 4.9% to $0.07134 and losing 1.48% over the past seven days.
Total crypto market cap fell 2.85% to $1.15 trillion, while total crypto market volume fell 6.68% to $70.57 billion over the past 24 hours.
Most Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday after a relief rally in U.S. stocks on Monday, as concerns over wider banking sector turmoil eased after authorities took charge of overseeing acquisitions of Signature Bank and Credit Suisse.
“Since our administration and regulators took decisive action last weekend, we’ve seen deposits stabilize in regional banks across the country, and in some cases outflows have reversed modestly,” White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa told Bloomberg.
US authorities are investigating whether, in the event of an emergency in the banking sector, regulators could temporarily offer deposit insurance more than the current limit of US$250,000, according to Bloomberg.
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.64% and the Shenzhen Component Index rose 1.6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.36%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.38% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.42%.
Investors look forward to the US Federal Reserve’s March 22 announcement on interest rates and the direction of the economy. The US central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, lower than previous market talk of 50 basis points before the banking crisis.
European shares extended gains as worries about the banking crisis began to ease, after UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse and with European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde reiterating on Sunday that the ECB is ready to support European banks with emergency loans.
The reference index STOXX 600 rose 1.33% and Germany’s DAX 40 gained 1.53%.
Investors are also looking forward to the release of the ZEW Economic Sentiment Survey, to gauge the economic health of the Eurozone.
Gold fell 0.52%, hovering near a yearly high of $1,980 an ounce, amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will ease monetary policy in light of the banking crisis.
See related article: Bitcoin hovers near USD 28,000, crypto markets take a breather