Cryptocurrency prices on August 16: Bitcoin trades flat at $58,400; Altcoins mixed

The global cryptocurrency market cap remained largely unchanged, edging up just 0.02% to around $2.07 trillion over the last 24 hours.

As of 4:17 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading 0.15% higher at $58,428, after hitting a low of $56,161 earlier in the day. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, gained 0.04%, trading at $2,619.

This market movement came after data revealed U.S. consumer prices rebounded as expected in July, tempering expectations for a substantial rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month.The U.S. consumer price index increased 0.2% last month, after falling 0.1% in June, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said. In the 12 months through July, the CPI increased 2.9%, after advancing 3% in June.Meanwhile, markets are now pricing in just a 25% chance of a 50-basis-point cut by the Federal Reserve next month, down from 55% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.”Bitcoin experienced a pullback to the $58,000 level following the release of U.S. CPI data, which indicated a price rebound in July as anticipated. This dampened hopes for a significant rate cut from the Federal Reserve next month,” said Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex. He also noted that “geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel further contributed to market pressure, along with significant liquidations in the crypto derivatives market.”Meanwhile, the CoinDCX Research Team observed that “there’s no specific reason for this drop. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are moving sideways on lower time frames, with the overall market appearing choppy.” They added, “U.S. BTC ETF inflows have slowed down, and altcoins are suffering due to Bitcoin’s decline and the market’s choppy behavior.”

The volume of all stablecoins is now $68.27 billion, 93.38% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume, as per data available on CoinMarketCap.

In the last 24 hours, the market cap of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, rose to $1.153 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 55.83%, according to CoinMarketCap. BTC volume in the last 24 hours rose 6.36% to $34.68 billion.

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