The
price
of
bitcoin
(BTC)
remained
below
$66,000
late
in
the
day
during
U.S.
trading
hours
Wednesday
after
a
couple
of
modest
rallies
were
met
with
quick
selling
action.
At
$65,800
at
press
time,
bitcoin
was
flat
over
the
past
24
hours.
Dragged
down
by
10%
declines
in
bitcoin
cash
(BCH)
and
litecoin
(LTC)
the
broader
CoinDesk
20
Index
is
lower
by
0.7%.
Bitcoin
managed
two
rallies
to
around
the
$66,500
level
on
Wednesday,
one
move
coming
a
softer
than
expected
report
on
March
growth
in
the
U.S.
service
industry
and
another
coming
after
Federal
Reserve
Chairman
Jerome
Powell
said
he
continued
to
expect
rate
cuts
this
year
despite
continued
perkiness
in
both
inflation
and
the
economy.
Most
of
bitcoin’s
rally
in
2024
roughly
came
from
mid-February
to
mid-March.
It
was
during
this
time
that
the
spot
ETFs
were
regularly
adding
5,000-13,000
bitcoin
each
day,
even
with
sizable
selling
by
Grayscale’s
GBTC.
The
action
since,
however,
has
seen
big
sales
of
bitcoin
continuing
at
GBTC,
while
purchases
into
the
other
ETFs
have
slowed.
On
many
days,
net
flows
into
the
spot
ETF
group
as
a
whole
have
turned
negative.
Alongside,
the
price
of
bitcoin
has
dipped
about
10%
from
a
record
of
nearly
$73,500
hit
on
March
12.
Macro
factors
figure
in
In
addition
to
the
spot
ETFs,
another
hoped-for
catalyst
this
year
was
to
be
easier
monetary
policy
from
the
Fed.
Economic
indicators,
though,
have
crumpled
much
of
that
case.
Inflation,
which
had
been
receding
steadily
for
all
of
2023,
has
actually
turned
higher
in
the
first
months
of
2024.
At
3.2%
year-over-year
in
February,
it
remains
well
above
the
Fed’s
2%
target.
Alongside,
the
economy
appears
to
be
continuing
to
steadily
grow,
with
job
additions
of
more
than
200,000
each
month
so
far
this
year
and
the
unemployment
rate
remaining
close
to
historic
lows,
according
to
government
statistics.
Earlier
Wednesday,
ADP
reported
private
payroll
growth
of
184,000
during
March,
topping
February’s
155,000
and
expectations
for
148,000.
The
main
event
on
jobs
will
be
Friday
morning’s
Nonfarm
Payrolls
report
from
the
government,
with
economists
expecting
200,000
additions.
The
strong
data
of
late
has
sent
the
U.S.
10-year
Treasury
yield
to
its
2024
high
4.43%
and
the
U.S.
dollar
to
its
strongest
level
since
last
November
–
both
of
which
could
tend
to
put
a
damper
on
risk
asset
prices,
bitcoin
included.
