The price of bitcoin barely moved on Wednesday. Most likely because traders are waiting for important inflation data to be released on Thursday.
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading at 19,142 dollars at the time of writing this article.
Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a report that measures price changes in a basket of common consumer goods and services. The index is used to estimate changes in the inflation rate in the economy.
Depending on the outlook, the CPI report could signal whether the Federal Reserve will continue to aggressively raise interest rates in an attempt to ‘cool’ the economy and curb rising inflation.
JPMorgan stated yesterday that such a move could mean that the stock market may continue to suffer, as it usually does when the central bank raises borrowing costs.
And when stocks fall, bitcoin (and the rest of the crypto market) usually falls as well.
Ethereum held up better than bitcoin yesterday, trading at a price of 1,300 dollars, which is an increase of 1.4 percent in the past day.
In fact, seven of the ten largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization posted gains yesterday.
Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have been closely correlated with traditional markets this year. However, in the past month, that correlation has weakened, albeit slightly.
Regardless of whether bitcoin is decoupling from stocks, Thursday is likely to be a volatile trading day, just like every previous day when new inflation data has been released.
