Compared to the previous month, the performance of the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is a lot slower.
Bitcoin started off the month reaching its highest price in six months. On February 1st, the asset reached the $24,000 level for the first time since August of the previous year.
The reason for that pump was a surge in market optimism after the Federal Reserve announced an interest raise of “only” 0.25%. The fact that the Fed is continuously decreasing its interest rate raise throughout the months gave the crypto market reason to trade stronger than usual.
However, after that date, bitcoin stagnated below the $24,000 margin. The currency not only fell below that margin but traded as low as $22,719 on February 6, according to CoinMarketCap.
The entire cryptocurrency market entered a consolidation period after January’s rally. Mostly due to the overall feeling of uncertainty creeping around the crypto space.
Recent claims by the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, indicate that the government’s battle against a potential recession is far from over.
In an interview with David Rubenstein before the Economic Club of Washington, D.C, Powell remarked that the Fed’s goal to get inflation under control will take “quite a bit of time.”
During the same interview the chairman also stated that the Fed will go through more interest raises in the future.
“The base case for me is that we’ll have to do more rate increases,” He said. “And then we’ll have to look around and see whether we’ve done enough.”
Comparing Bitcoin’s First Week In January and February
After the month was over, bitcoin investors celebrated the second most profitable January in bitcoin’s history. The asset grew in price by a whopping 40% in that timeframe.
However, when comparing the first week of each month, the performances are not far apart.
Out of the 40% growth in 2023’s first month, BTC only grew by 2.34% in its first week.
In comparison, bitcoin traded laterally in February’s first week. On February 1st, the asset was worth $23,113. On the seventh day, BTC traded at around $23,319 — only seeing a modest 0.8% increase.
The first week of a month is usually the slowest due to the market stopping significant market movements in order to await news from Governments. In this month specifically, the Federal Reserve held the FOMC meeting on January 31 – February 1st.
