AA / Ankara
Bitcoin fell to its lowest level in three months on Monday. The cryptocurrency market is facing a sell-off ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s critical monetary policy meeting this week.
The price of the world’s largest crypto by market size plunged to $18,232 as of 6:30 GMT, its lowest level since June 19. It was trading around $18,650 at 10:42 GMT, a daily loss of 6.6%.
Ethereum plunged to $1,280, its lowest level since July 16. The world’s largest underlying currency by market value was trading around $1,316 at 10:43 GMT, a daily decline of 8.2%.
Some underlying currencies saw their price plunge by up to 12% on the day.
The total value of the cryptocurrency market fell 6.3% to $908 billion, according to data from digital asset price tracking site CoinMarketCap.
The drop in cryptocurrencies comes as investors fear the Fed will opt for a 100 basis point rate hike, instead of 75 basis points, at its two-day monetary policy meeting this week, in order to control runaway inflation in the United States.
If so, it would be the biggest rate hike in over 33 years. The last 100 basis point increase in interest rates by the Fed dates back to February 1989.
The probability of a 100 basis point hike climbed to 34% last Wednesday, but was down 20% at 10:45 GMT on Monday, according to the FedWatch tool provided by US global markets firm Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group.
Last Tuesday, U.S. stock indices posted their worst one-day loss since 2022 due to a massive sell-off after annual consumer price inflation in the country hit 8.3% in August.
On Monday, futures on the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down almost 1%, pointing to another likely weak opening and trading day.
* Translated from English by Alex Sinhan Bogmis
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