-- Bitcoin’s rose slightly on Friday, while broader crypto prices retreated as appetite for risk-driven assets remained weak amid uncertainty over a tight U.S. election and high interest rates.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was also set for weekly losses after it failed to cross a key level this week, amid a dearth of major positive trading cues.
Bitcoin rose close to 1% to $68,112.0 by 09:16 ET (13:16 GMT).
Bitcoin options worth $4.2 billion are set to expire on Friday- an event that could potentially increase crypto market volatility.
Bitcoin set for weekly loss
The token was set to lose about 1% this week, after it largely failed to cross $70,000, which has become a psychologically important level for markets.
$70,000 puts Bitcoin about $4,000 away from making new highs- an event that is expected to mark a bullish point for crypto markets.
While increased odds of a Donald Trump victory in the upcoming presidential election had initially boosted crypto prices, this enthusiasm ran out of steam this week, as analysts predicted a tight race against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Speculation over a Trump presidency also boosted the dollar, pressuring crypto markets as traders bet on more inflationary policies in the coming years.
Uncertainty over the election kept traders wary of risk-driven assets and largely biased towards safe havens such as the dollar and gold, with the latter hitting a record high this week.
The dollar was also supported by increased bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at a slower pace in the coming months- a scenario that bodes poorly for speculative assets such as crypto.
Crypto price today: altcoins muted, Solana set for stellar week
Broader crypto prices retreated on Friday, with major altcoins mostly moving in a flat-to-low range. World no.2 crypto Ether rose marginally to $2,540.68, with the coin expected to see increased volatility with the expiry of $1 billion in options later on Friday.
While most altcoins were headed for weekly declines, Solana was an outperformer, as increased blockchain activity- specifically among memetokens linked to artificial intelligence- boosted the token. SOL was set to add around 13% this week, vastly outpacing broader crypto markets.
Other altcoins {{|ADA}}, MATIC and XRP all declined on Friday, while among memecoins, DOGE lost 0.8%.
MicroStrategy hits ATH as trading volumes relative Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA ) soars
MicroStrategy, the largest public corporate holder of Bitcoin, is seeing a surge in its stock that’s pushing trading volumes higher relative to Nvidia, a leading AI stock by market cap, pointing to growing investor enthusiasm.
MSTR’s trading volume, as a proportion of NVDA’s, has steadily increased this year, peaking at 17.65% in October. On October 11, data from showed MicroStrategy’s trading volume at 30 million, against Nvidia’s 170 million. This figure marks a substantial increase since the 2021 bull market, where, on February 9, MSTR hit $130 with a volume of 23.2 million—just 8% of NVDA’s that day.
Rising trading volumes amid MSTR’s price rally may be signaling a strengthening uptrend. However, if volumes continue climbing relative to Nvidia, it could indicate growing speculative activity in the market.