Bitcoin-BTC price climbs above $27.2k but remains on hold as investors remain vigilant on debt containment

Stocks fell, but Bitcoin (BTC) remained sluggish in Tuesday’s trading.

The largest cryptocurrency by market cap recently traded around $27,200, up 1.1% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin surpassed the $27,400 mark just before the European stock markets opened up. For nearly two weeks, BTC traded in a range between $26,500 and $27,500 as investors fret over ongoing crypto regulatory issues that have drained liquidity from markets and macroeconomic uncertainties, including the recent U.S. cryptocurrency standoff. debt ceiling.

“After the market turmoil of 2022, sideways felt a lot better than down,” Tim Frost, CEO of digital wealth platform Yield App, quipped in an email to CoinDesk, but added, “It actually feels like if it were crypto markets.” is stagnating. Right now, the available liquidity is just moving in different directions, with really only the true crypto believers and active traders participating.”

Frost noted that the crypto market’s current capitalization of approximately $1.3 trillion has almost stalled compared to last year. “There doesn’t seem to be a catalyst on the horizon yet that could move things one way or the other,” Frost wrote. “The global macroeconomic picture remains uncertain, albeit more positive, as inflation in the US and possibly also in the UK and the EU is set to ease in the coming months. Not much to shake at the moment though.”

The latest US CPI-based inflation reading was below 5% for the first time since early 2021, although it is still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Ether (ETH) also remained within its two-week range, changing hands at $1,850, up about 1.6% over the 24-hour period. Most other major cryptos have been in positive territory, albeit not by much, with APT and SOL, the native tokens of smart contract platforms Solana and Aptos, recently up 3.8% and 2.1%, respectively. The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of how crypto markets are performing, recently rose 1.1%.

Stocks fell on fears over the debt ceiling, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closing down 1.2% a day after hitting a 2023 peak, while the S&P 500, which has a strong tech component, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) down 1.1%, down 0.6% and

2-year and 10-year government bond yields both touched near their highest levels since March before easing slightly.

Crypto markets received a modest boon on Monday when a leaked document seen by CoinDesk showed the European Commission’s willingness to soften its previous tough stance on crypto and make it easier for commercial lenders to hold stablecoins and tokenized assets.

In an email to CoinDesk, Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics at Canadian firm FRNT Financial, wrote that the correlation between the S&P 500 and Bitcoin has fallen to -0.23 since April.

“This break in the correlation between Bitcoin and traditional assets has been a dominant theme that seems to persist in 2023,” Savic wrote. “As some macroeconomic catalysts come to a head, like the debt ceiling debate or Fed interest rate policy, it will be interesting to see how much bitcoin has decoupled from the broader market.”

Savic also noted that the percentage of total bitcoin supply “has remained flat in over a year, hitting a new record of 62.13%.” “Bitcoin ‘hodlers’ remain loyal to the asset for now,” he wrote.

UPDATE (23 May 2023, 22:33 UTC): Adds the current CoinDesk market index.

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