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Bitcoin Tumbles From Multi-Month High on DOJ Worry, Hawkish Fed
Earlier Wednesday the crypto had touched its highest point since before the FTX collapse.
Updated Jan 18, 2023, 5:45 p.m. Published Jan 18, 2023, 4:39 p.m.
Just two hours after surging to a four-month high of about $21,550, the price of bitcoin (BTC) has tumbled nearly $1,000, now down 2.6% to $20,600.
More than $107 million was liquidated across crypto derivatives markets during the quick plunge, according to Coinglass.
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Helping to spur the slump was the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) teasing the announcement of a major international crypto enforcement action coming at noon ET. There were also some hawkish comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President Jim Bullard, who suggested the central bank should hike interest rates by 50 basis points at its next meeting in February versus market expectations for a 25 basis point move.
All three major U.S. stock market indices are also in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average leading the downside with a 1% decline.
Ether (ETH) is off 4% to $1,511.
Among crypto-related stocks pulling back are Coinbase (COIN) down 4%, Marathon Digital (MARA) down 17%, and MicroStrategy (MSTR) down 11%.
UPDATE (Jan. 18, 17:40 UTC): The government has charged little-known crypto platform Bitzlato with laundering funds tied to illicit Russian finance and its founder has been arrested. With the "major" perhaps somewhat overhyped, bitcoin has bounced a bit, now trading just below $21,000.
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XRP Faces Downside Risk as Social Sentiment Turns Wildly Negative
The turn in crowd mood comes after a two-month slide of roughly 31%, leaving the token vulnerable to further downside if risk appetite weakens across majors.
What to know:
- XRP's price approached the $2 mark as social sentiment around the token turned sharply negative, according to Santiment data.
- The token has experienced a 31% decline over two months, making it vulnerable to further losses if market risk appetite weakens.
- Santiment's sentiment model indicates XRP is in a 'fear zone,' where negative commentary significantly outweighs positive talk, potentially influencing market positioning.
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