(Kitco News) – It was another day of mixed and choppy trading for the crypto market as Bitcoin (BTC) showed resilience around support at $64,000 while the top 200 altcoins were evenly split between winners and losers.
The primary source of volatility in both the crypto and stock markets was a significantly underwhelming GDP report in the U.S., which showed GDP growth came in at a 1.6% annualized pace in the first quarter, well below expectations of 2.5%.
This intensified the focus on the Federal Reserve and the ongoing debate about the future of interest rates, with the CME FedWatch Tool now showing that the market now sees a 59% chance that the Fed will lower rates in September.
Treasury yields rose after the GDP print, with the benchmark U.S. 10-year yield surging to 4.739%, its highest level of the year, before pulling back to 4.704% at the time of writing, an increase of 128 basis points on the day.
The DXY spiked to a high of 106 following the report but saw the gains evaporate as the day progressed, trading at 105.58 at the time of writing for a decrease of 0.23%.
At the closing bell, the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq all finished lower, down 0.46%, 0.98%, and 0.64%, respectively.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin had a rollercoaster of a trading day, spiking to $64,740 in the early hours of Thursday before dipping to a daily low of $62,750, only to reverse course and climb higher in the afternoon, with bulls now setting their sights on resistance at $65,000.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
At the time of writing, BTC trades at $64,830, an increase of 1.1% on the 24-hour chart.
Bullish fund managers
While Bitcoin has been stuck in sideways trading for two months, it could soon resume its trek higher, according to venture capitalist Tim Draper, who said that he sees the price of the top crypto tripling in value in 2024 due to the inflows into ETFs and the impact of the Bitcoin halving.
Draper expressed his optimistic outlook while speaking with Cointelegraph at Paris Blockchain Week, suggesting King Crypto could possibly rise to $250,000 by year-end given the positive signs he observes in the market.
“The future I see is one where if you don’t have some Bitcoin to take care of yourself when the dollars become worthless, there will be a hole in your life,” Draper said.
Morgan Creek Capital’s CEO Mark Yusko offered his insights into where the new demand for Bitcoin could arise, telling “The Wolf Of All Streets” podcast host Scott Melker that the spot BTC ETFs in the U.S. have led to increased interest from registered investment advisers and a significant shift in demand.
“There’s going to be $300 billion, I believe,” said Yusko. “That’s 1% of the $30 trillion that comes into this space [within 12 months]. That’s actually more money than has ever [been] converted to Bitcoin in 15 years. That’s a pretty amazing thing.”
He added that the wealth held in baby boomers’ retirement accounts will be one of the primary sources of new inflows.
“We’re a couple of months [...] about three months into the ETFs, and we’ve gotten about 10% of what I believe is coming into this space from registered investment advisers that control all the boomers’ cash,” he said, suggesting that the influx could potentially push the crypto market’s capitalization to $6 trillion.
“I’ve been saying that this is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever, right?” Yusko mused. “No more ‘you’re not welcome because you’re a crypto person in the family.’“
MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe said that in the near term, Bitcoin could continue to trade sideways, which will benefit altcoins, and he expects Bitcoin dominance to drop as the focus on Ethereum ETFs and altcoins ramps up.
To me, the #Bitcoin dominance has peaked and there's a significant chance that we'll rotate back to #Altcoins in the coming period.
It's a quiet vacuum currently, which we'll need to break through with a potential momentum surrounding the $ETH ETF in May. pic.twitter.com/gtFAHHzsUM— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) April 25, 2024
Altcoins mixed
Thursday saw an even distribution between winners and losers in the top 200 altcoins, with meme coins included in both groups.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Baby Doge Coin (BabyDoge) led the gainers with an increase of 25.7%, followed by gains of 21% for Wormhole (W) and 13.7% for Bonk (BONK). BinaryX was the biggest loser, declining by 11.5%, while cat in a dogs world (MEW) fell 8.8%, and Galxe (GAL) lost 8.7%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.38 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 53.4%.
