(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin dropped back below the closely watched $30,000 level amid a wider retreat in cryptocurrencies, as stubbornly high UK inflation fanned fears of higher-for-longer interest rates.
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The largest token fell as much as 4.5% before paring some of the slide to trade at about $29,340 as of 9:50 a.m. in London on Wednesday. Ether shed 5% and smaller tokens like Solana and Avalanche suffered steeper declines.
UK consumer-price data on Wednesday showed inflation remained above 10% in March, adding to recent signs that central banks will have to keep lifting borrowing costs. That’s giving traders pause after Bitcoin surged about 80% this year, a rally driven in large part by speculation that rate cuts were imminent.
Read more: UK Inflation Sticks Above 10%, Lifting Prospect of Rate Hike
The sudden selloff triggered liquidations of $175 million worth of long positions across crypto markets, data from Coinglass showed.
“This seems to be a classic liquidation and structural market reaction,” said Vetle Lunde, senior analyst at K33 Research.
(Updates with UK inflation in third paragraph.)
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Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-drops-below-30-000-085755646.html