Bitcoin has seen its first significant weekly price fall since Donald Trump’s November presidential election win kicked off a rally that sent the cryptocurrency soaring over six figures.
Bitcoin (BTC) dropped 10% on the week ending Dec. 22 to close at $94,645, shaving around $10,500 from its starting point of $105,185, according to TradingView.
Its fall came after the United States Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee trimmed the number of projected interest rate cuts for next year from five to two after its third cut in a row.
Bitcoin’s change in price over the last week. Source: TradingView
The federal funds rate could now stop near 3.9% in 2025 as opposed to the expected 3.4%, leading to a less favorable economic environment for risk-on assets like Bitcoin.
Up until last week, Bitcoin’s price had risen in six of the last seven weekly closes since Trump’s victory.
The only fall came in the week ending Nov. 24 when Bitcoin slightly retraced around 0.78% to $97,280, CoinMarketCap data shows.
Bitcoin’s weekly closing prices since Nov. 4. Source: CoinMarketCap
Despite the pullback, asset management firms Bitwise and VanEck expect Bitcoin to soar into the $180,000 to $200,000 range in 2025, which could be fueled by a strategic US Bitcoin reserve and further institutional and corporate adoption.
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Trump has also nominated the most pro-crypto US administration to date, picking hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as secretary of Treasury and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnik to head the Commerce Department.
Most industry pundits expect a friendlier crypto regulatory environment, with crypto advocate Paul Atkins set to replace Gary Gensler as Securities and Exchange Commission chair on Jan. 20 — the same day that Trump is to be inaugurated.
Atkins previously served as an SEC commissioner between 2002 and 2008.
Bitcoin was trading at $96,073, down around 11% from its all-time high of $108,135 set on Dec. 17, TradingView data shows.
On Christmas Day last year, it was trading around $43,610 as traders speculated whether the now-approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) would be given the green light.
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