Bitcoin Falls Below $60,000 on First Day of FOMC... 16% Drop in April

Ethereum Also Falls 12 Days After $60,000 Collapse
Price Decline Continues as ETF Popularity Fades

The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin fell below the $60,000 mark on the 30th of last month (local time).

As of 9:09 PM Eastern Time that day, the price of one Bitcoin was trading at $59,912 (approximately 83.1 million KRW), down 6.99% from 24 hours earlier. Bitcoin's price briefly dropped to the $59,000 range before slightly recovering to the $60,000 level, but then fell back to the $59,000 level again.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

This is the first time in 12 days since the 18th that Bitcoin's price has fallen below $60,000. It has dropped more than 20% compared to the all-time high of $73,780 recorded on March 14. The decline in April alone was 16%, marking the largest drop since November 2022.

The downward trend in Bitcoin's price has continued as the popularity of U.S. spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which had driven Bitcoin's rise this year, has waned. As of the 29th, $182 million was withdrawn from 11 U.S. spot ETFs in April. This contrasts with the $4.6 billion inflow in March.

Starting that day, trading of six spot ETFs began in Hong Kong. Due to expectations that funds would flow in from Asia, Bitcoin's price briefly rose to the $65,000 range, but the first-day trading volume was only $11 million, disappointing the market. Battle Runde, chief analyst at K33 Research, pointed out, "The market formed irrational expectations ahead of the Hong Kong ETF launch."

On the first day of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regular meeting, the decline widened as expectations grew that interest rate cuts would be difficult this year. Initially, there were many forecasts that the Federal Reserve (Fed) could lower rates starting in June this year, but concerns that the timing might be delayed due to inflation gained traction.

Not only Bitcoin but also Ethereum, the second-largest by market capitalization, fell below the $3,000 mark. At the same time, Ethereum was trading at $2,994.27, down more than 7% in 24 hours.