Bitcoin price saw a slight increase on Friday, hovering near record highs thanks to a weaker dollar and growing speculation on U.S. interest rate cuts prior to the release of key nonfarm payrolls data. The price of Bitcoin rose by 0.6% in the past 24 hours to $71,327.6, showing a potential weekly gain of over 5% after breaking out of a trading range between $60,000 and $70,000 that had been established since mid-March.
Expectations of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve were on the rise, driving up Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices. Weak U.S. economic data supported the belief that the Fed may adjust its monetary policy to stimulate the economy, causing the dollar to weaken and benefiting risk-driven assets. Traders were eagerly awaiting the release of nonfarm payrolls data to gain more insights into the labor market and interest rates.
The potential for looser monetary conditions was seen as favorable for speculative assets like cryptocurrencies, as it would free up more capital for investment in such assets. Bitcoin was trading close to its record high, with institutional capital flowing into exchange-traded funds linked to the cryptocurrency in anticipation of lower rates.
The approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs for U.S. markets earlier in the year was a significant factor in driving Bitcoin to its record highs. Analysts believed that the expectation of lower rates could spark another rally to new record highs for the token in the near future.
In the broader crypto market, major altcoins maintained a narrow trading range on Friday as they awaited further information on U.S. rates. Despite this, most tokens were poised for weekly gains, driven by expectations of lower rates and ongoing optimism surrounding a potential spot Ether ETF. The second-largest token, Ethereum, fell by 0.8% to $3,814.40 and was trading flat for the week.
Altcoins like Litecoin and Ripple also saw minimal movement, with gains ranging from 1% to 3% for the week. Memetokens like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu experienced slight declines, lacking support even as interest in meme stocks like GameStop surged during the week.