Bitcoin consolidates near $78,000 as investors await key US inflation, Fed cues

Bitcoin consolidated near the $78,000 mark on Thursday as the upcoming U.S. CPI data and the Federal Reserve’s rate decision have become the key near-term catalysts. The cryptocurrency was trading at $77,942 mark.

In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin was down 1.35%, and Ethereum was down 1.09% to trade at the $2,467 mark. Among the major altcoins, BNB, XRP, Solana, Hyperliquid, Dogecoin, and Cardano corrected up to 5.98%, and Tron was up 0.32%.

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Avinash Shekhar, Co-Founder & CEO, Pi42 said Bitcoin’s current consolidation near $78,000 reflects a market waiting for clarity rather than a loss of conviction and after Bitcoin’s sharp recovery from the July lows, this pause is a natural part of the market finding its next direction.

The bigger takeaway is that macroeconomic data could determine the direction of the next move across the crypto market, Shekhar further said.

The global crypto market capitalisation edged down 1.87% to $2.66 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap. The crypto fear and greed index has slightly risen to 73, while sentiments have turned to greed, said the CoinDCX Research Team.

CoinSwitch Markets Desk said BTC briefly moved up to $79,650, but U.S.-Iran tensions pushed Brent crude above $100, pulling BTC back toward $78K. The reaction has been relatively muted compared with August, when Treasury buybacks helped drive a stronger BTC rally.

Over the past week, Bitcoin and Ethereum were up 0.45% and 3.10% respectively. Among the major altcoins, BNB, XRP, Solana, Tron, Hyperliquid, Dogecoin and Cardano rallied upto 4.02%.

Here is what other experts say

Prateek Gupta, Head of Business, Mudrex: Bitcoin is consolidating around the $78,000 range after briefly rising near the $80,000 mark, tracking a rise in gold prices. Looking ahead, markets will focus on the US’ August Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index releases this week for signals on the direction of the Federal Reserve’s rate decision on September 16

Riya Sehgal, Research Analyst, Delta Exchange: Crypto remains cautious and range-bound, with macro conditions driving most of the pressure. Bitcoin failed to hold its move toward $79.7K and is back near $78.4K, while Ethereum has slipped below $2,500 but continues to show better relative strength.

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Nischal Shetty, founder, WazirX: Bitcoin is holding around $78K, with $77K–$77.5K emerging as near-term support and $80K–$82K as the key resistance zone. Ethereum remains above the $2,350–$2,400 support band, while $2,500–$2,565 could act as the immediate resistance range

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)