Bitcoin price today: hovers around $68k amid weak sentiment; altcoins muted

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.  

This year, MSTR has jumped over 240%, with shares doubling to $236 in just the past five weeks, per TradingView data. This marks its highest price point since the dotcom era nearly 25 years ago. The rally now puts MSTR on the path toward a $50 billion market cap, although still just 1.5% of Nvidia’s $3.44 trillion.

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 Investing.com 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.

Source: Investing.com