Cryptocurrency markets recovered slightly from recent trading lows on Thursday, but prices remain well below highs set in March as pre- halving volatility and weakness continue to dominate the market.
As of press time, with less than 30 hours until Bitcoin’s (BTC) next halving, cryptocurrency supporters are eager to get back on track as the market has been in a correction since Bitcoin surpassed $64,000 in early March.
According to Bitpush data, Bitcoin rebounded from a low of $59,650 set on Wednesday and hit an intraday high of $64,200 on Thursday, before falling back to the $63,300 support level.
The top 200 Altcoin by market cap saw mixed gains and losses on Thursday. Livepeer (LPT) saw the biggest price increase, up 12.7% to $13.27, Jito (JTO) rose 10.9%, and Centrifuge (CFG) rose 8.5%. Meme coin cat in a dogs world (MEW) fell 11.7%, leading the decline, while Core ( CORE ) fell 9% and Sui ( SUI ) fell 7.3%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap is currently $2.3 trillion, with Bitcoin’s dominance rate at 54.2%.
Concerns about U.S. inflation and interest rates remain a source of volatility, with Atlanta Fed President Raphael W. Bostic reiterating on Thursday that he does not expect a rate cut before the end of the year. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari also said he needed to be patient until he was convinced that inflation was falling, and that he might have to wait until 2025 to cut rates.
U.S. stocks opened lower, climbed into positive territory midway through the session, and then fell back into the red at the close. As of the close, the S&P and Nasdaq were down 0.22% and 0.52%, respectively, while the Dow was flat. Despite the pullback in stocks, the dollar index rose 0.4% to 106.152, while the U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose 7.6 basis points to 4.638%.
"The S&P 500 experienced volatility as Wall Street sought to regain stability after consecutive declines. The Nasdaq, particularly affected by the downturn in technology stocks, fell more than 3%, suggesting that the Nasdaq could fall for the fourth consecutive week, which would be the longest downturn since December 2022," said analysts at Secure Digital Markets.
“Overall, the recent decline in equities can be attributed to waning expectations of rate cuts, prompting investors to book profits after a strong first quarter of the year,” they noted.
Analyst: BTC may reach its next peak in September/October next year
Bitcoin's weakness over the past few weeks has been associated with a decline in outflows from spot BTC ETFs, with net flows negative every day since Friday. Data shows that outflows reached a recent peak of $165 million on Wednesday, led by Grayscale 's GBTC , which accounted for $133.1 million of the amount, while BlackRock 's spot Bitcoin product recorded the lowest inflow of only $18.1 million.
While prices are expected to continue to move sideways in the short term as the halving occurs and ETF flows moderate, most analysts expect Bitcoin’s price to eventually resume its uptrend.
Market analyst Rekt Capital said that based on previous halving cycles, BTC could reach its next peak around mid-September or mid-October 2025. He added: “The current market conditions show that spot is higher than futures, which is reminiscent of the previous trend when Bitcoin was trading at around $40,000, indicating a decrease in speculative trading, which is a favorable sign.”
Bearish crowd sentiment signals market bottom?
Market intelligence firm Santiment says crypto investor sentiment has turned pessimistic following the latest drop in Bitcoin prices.
In an April 18 X post, the company shared a chart showing the crypto community making consistent bearish comments on Bitcoin and other tokens like Ethereum: “Sentiment remains bearish on majors, which reinforces the argument for more upside.”
The chart above shows that the number of mentions of “bull market” or “bull cycle” on crypto social media has declined since Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $73,835 on March 14.
At the same time, the number of mentions of a “bear market” or “bear cycle” has steadily increased. Historically, bearish sentiment is usually observed at market bottoms.
“Historically, price action has moved in the opposite direction of mass trader expectations,” Santiment analysts wrote. “A rapid decline in FOMO coupled with a significant rise in FUD is a promising combination, and crypto markets could see a recovery before or shortly after the halving.”
Data from Alternative.me, a platform that tracks bitcoin social media sentiment, shows that the Crypto Fear and Greed Index has dropped sharply from 76 last week and 79 last month, when sentiment was in “extreme greed” territory, but remains in the “greed” zone, currently at 57.
This suggests that despite more than a week of price correction, trader sentiment is gradually turning positive.
Author: BitpushNews Mary Liu
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