Bitcoin falls below $67,000, hawkish Fed expectations pressure crypto market

February 11 News, influenced by the shift towards a hawkish outlook on the U.S. macroeconomic prospects, Bitcoin and mainstream cryptocurrencies collectively weakened in early Wednesday trading. Data shows that Bitcoin's price dropped below $67,000, declining about 3% in the past 24 hours to around $66,800; Ethereum also retreated to approximately $1,960. Major coins like XRP and BNB each fell more than 4%, indicating a clear cooling of market risk appetite.

Analysts point out that the core driver of this correction is the re-pricing of expectations regarding U.S. monetary policy. Andri Fauzan Adziima, Head of Research at Bitrue, said that after Kevin Warsh was nominated as Federal Reserve Chair, the market generally believes that future policies will lean more towards tightening, with liquidity conditions potentially remaining restrictive and room for rate cuts shrinking. This expectation directly dampens the willingness to allocate funds to high-risk assets.

From a derivatives perspective, Vincent Liu, Chief Investment Officer at Kronos Research, stated that the recent rapid decline has cleared most excess leverage. Funding rates and position structures indicate that the market is undergoing a deleveraging process. He also noted that institutional funds remain cautious, waiting for more definitive catalysts, such as continued inflows into ETFs or new macro signals.

On-chain and funding data also show divergence. On Tuesday, spot Bitcoin ETF recorded approximately $166 million in net inflows, higher than the previous trading day, while spot Ethereum ETF inflows slowed significantly to about $13.8 million. This suggests that long-term funds are still positioning but with a more cautious pace.

In traditional markets, Asian stocks rose in early Wednesday trading, with the Korea KOSPI index up over 1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slightly higher; U.S. stocks showed mixed performance in the previous trading day. The market is awaiting upcoming U.S. labor data to gauge the direction of interest rates and global risk asset sentiment.

Against the backdrop of ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, whether Bitcoin can hold the $60,000 to $65,000 range will be a key focus for the short-term market. (The Block)