[Bitcoin Now] Falls Over 7% in a Week... Investor Sentiment 'Neutral'

The price of the representative virtual asset Bitcoin fell more than 7% over the course of a week, dropping to the $26,000 range.

Image source=Reuters·Yonhap News

According to the global virtual asset market tracking site CoinMarketCap as of 3:34 PM on the 14th, the price of Bitcoin was recorded at $26,879 (approximately 36.13 million KRW), up 0.44% from the previous day. Compared to a week ago, it plunged 7.06%.

Bitcoin prices showed an upward trend following the release of the favorable U.S. April Consumer Price Index (CPI) on the 10th (local time), but later gave back the gains. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the April CPI rose 4.9% compared to the same month last year. This was the smallest increase since April 2021 and below Wall Street experts’ forecast of 5.0%. It was also lower than the 5.0% increase in March, continuing a slowdown for 10 consecutive months. The core CPI, which excludes the highly volatile energy and food sectors, rose 5.5% year-over-year and 0.4% month-over-month, both in line with expectations.

Subsequently, regulatory risks drove the decline in Bitcoin prices. The U.S. economic media CNBC reported that major virtual asset companies are scaling down their business operations due to regulatory risks from U.S. authorities. According to the report, major U.S. virtual asset firms Jump Street and Jane Street plan to reduce their virtual asset business scale within the U.S. As a result, there are assessments that the liquidity crisis in the virtual asset market is worsening.

Bitcoin, which was priced in the $28,000 range on the 10th, continued to show weakness and fell to the low $26,000 range the day before. However, it has since recovered some of the losses and is currently trading in the high $26,000 range.

Meanwhile, virtual asset investor sentiment has deteriorated to a neutral level. According to the virtual asset data provider Alternative, the Fear & Greed Index, which expresses investor sentiment as an index, remained at 48 points (neutral), the same as the previous day. Until a week ago, it showed a level of 64 points (fear), but investor sentiment has continued to worsen. Alternative’s Fear & Greed Index ranges from 0 points, indicating extreme fear and pessimism about investing, to near 100 points, indicating optimism.