Investing.com — Bitcoin prices stabilized on Thursday after falling from recent highs as expectations for a close presidential election and relatively high U.S. interest rates continued to steer traders away from the cryptocurrency.
Rising risk aversion also largely suppressed crypto trading volumes, while overnight losses in the stock market also gave a moderate cue to the crypto market. While most altcoins also tracked Bitcoin's quiet movement, Solana has rebounded by overtaking its peers with increased activity on the blockchain.
It rose 1.6% to $67,488.0 by 8:54 ET (12:54 GMT). The token has been stuck for the past two sessions after failing to break above $70,000 earlier this week.
Interest rates and election uncertainty put pressure on Bitcoin
Bitcoin initially rose on the back of growing speculation that Donald Trump would win a second term in 2024. Recent polls and prediction markets also show Trump with a slight advantage over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Trump has remained largely pro-crypto in his recent campaign, promising more friendly crypto regulations if elected.
However, President Trump's broader macroeconomic policies are expected to be primarily inflationary, a trend that leads to relatively high interest rates and a strong dollar. That belief, which pushed the dollar to its highest level in nearly three months in recent trading, has largely put pressure on risk-driven markets.
Expectations that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of interest rate cuts also weighed on speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies, given that rising interest rates limit the amount of liquidity that can be pumped into risk assets.
Traders were widely seen to be positioning for the Federal Reserve to reduce its 25 basis points (bp) rate cut in November, data showed.
U.S. economic data released later Thursday is expected to provide further clues about the U.S. economy.
Solana rallies amid increased blockchain activity and meme coin speculation
has outperformed in the cryptocurrency market this week, rising about 5% on Thursday on increased trading volume to hit a nearly three-month high of $174.7.
Coindesk believes that the price increase is primarily due to increased activity on the Solana blockchain, particularly meme tokens related to artificial intelligence.
Solana's speculative positions increased sharply this week as the number of users was also seen increasing to an all-time high of over 8 million.
Solana has gained 8.4% this week compared to Bitcoin's 1.5% decline.
Cryptocurrency prices today: Ether falls, altcoins slump
A wide range of altcoins ranged from flat to low. The world's second-largest cryptocurrency was an outlier, falling 1.9% to $2,526.59.
It remained flat to low, with a decline of about 3%. Meme tokens rose 1.6%.
CEO says XRP ETF is 'inevitable'
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has announced that despite years of conflict between Ripple and regulators, he will continue to invest in XRP, the cryptocurrency developed by Ripple's founders, as an exchange-traded fund. We are optimistic that the US SEC will eventually give the green light to ETFs.
Earlier this month, fund manager Bitwise filed an application for an XRP ETF. This will allow investors to gain exposure to digital assets through stock exchanges without directly owning cryptocurrencies.
The filing was a surprise given Ripple's ongoing legal dispute with the SEC that began in 2020. But Garlinghouse remains unfazed.
“For me, it's just inevitable [that an XRP ETF will be approved]” he said in an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, highlighting the growing “demand from institutions and retailers” for access to this crypto asset.
In addition to Bitwise, Canary Capital also filed to launch an XRP-related ETF this month.
Garlinghouse noted that while the SEC may have been initially reluctant, it ultimately approved Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, products brought to market by big Wall Street firms.
Amber Warrick contributed to this report.
