Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Extend Losses On Inflation Report, Terra (LUNA) Fiasco: Whales Become 'Extremely Active' For This Coin

Major coins crashed sharply with Ethereum down more than 10% as the global cryptocurrency market cap dropped 10.25% to $1.3 trillion at press time.

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Why It Matters: On Wednesday, the Labor Department reported an 8.3% rise in the consumer price index in April — an indication that inflation remains hot and near 40-year highs. However, the number moderated from the 8.5% reported in March.

On Wednesday, the yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose 3.1 basis points to 3.025%, while the 2-year paper, an indicator of the Federal Reserve’s rate outlook, hit a three-year high of 2.858%, according to a Reuters report.

Risk assets flashed red after the inflation report with the S&P 500 and NASDAQ down 1.65% and 3.2%, respectively, on Wednesday. At press time, U.S. stock futures rose slightly. Bitcoin traded below the psychologically important $30,000 mark.

“Bitcoin remains very vulnerable to further selling pressure and could see further technical selling if the $28,500 level breaks,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst with OANDA, in a note seen by Benzinga.

GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou said apart from the macro headwinds there’s a “fundamental risk” to the cryptocurrency industry after Terra USD (UST) lost its peg to the dollar.

“The impact of this event on the wider market is very significant. Soon we will find out which DeFi projects had their treasuries in anchor or UST, hence resulting in prominent protocols going under,” said Sotiriou.

Futures trader and CEO of Factor LLC Peter Brandt said that the volume spike in BTC can be indicative of the “puke-out capitulation and the beginning of the end of the one-year decline.” Brandt said he’s previously mentioned $27,000 as a possible low.

At press time, the 24-hour trading volume for Bitcoin rose 29.3% to $73.42 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Notably, Brandt had tweeted on April 8 that if Bitcoin goes to $27,111 he would add “laser eyes” to his Twitter picture.

Cryptocurrency trader Michaël van de Poppe said we’re close to “capitualtion” on the markets. 

Meanwhile, as Ethereum hovers around the psychologically important $2,000 mark, whales have been “extremely active,” according to a tweet from Santiment, market intelligence platform.

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