Bitcoin started a sideways movement on Monday morning. Its price settled at $23,325.
According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin 24-hour low was recorded at $23,275, while its high was at $24,121.
However, the week was successful for the first cryptocurrency. During all seven days of trading the coin was steadily holding above the key psychological mark of $20,000. In the second half of the week, it soared above $23,000.
Crypto analysts cite the meeting of the US Federal Reserve to combat record levels of inflation on July 26-27 as a key driver for Bitcoin's spectacular rise in value over the past week. The results of the US regulator's meeting were released on Thursday.The day before the announcement of the US Federal Reserve's decision, experts at analyst firm Kaiko reported that BTC volatility soared noticeably at the beginning of the central bank meeting.
According to analysts at Kaiko, Bitcoin's high correlation with US Federal Reserve decisions dates back to the summer of 2021, indicating that the cryptocurrency market has long been influenced by key macroeconomic indicators.
In May 2022, when the US Federal Reserve increased its rate range to 0.75-1% per annum, the value of the first cryptocurrency surged above the $40,000 level, but the same day it collapsed below $36,000, triggering a prolonged correction.
This June, when the US regulator raised its key rate to 1.5-1.75%, the cryptocurrency price rallied immediately.
Experts believe the digital asset market will respond even more strongly in the coming months to the performance of global central banks, as often rising interest rates drastically reduce investors' ability to invest in risky assets such as digital currencies.
Altcoin market
Ethereum, Bitcoin's main counterpart, started the trading session with an increase and later was down to $1,694.
Ethereum soared above $1,700 last week to its highest levels since mid-June, before starting to decline slightly.
As for top 10 cryptocurrencies by capitalization, over the past 24 hours, all coins except Tether were trading in the red zone. Binance Coin (+3.88%) was the biggest gainer, while XRP (-2.26%) was the weakest.
All cryptocurrencies from the top 10, except for USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD), rose in value during the week. Binance Coin (+12.80%) and BNB (+11%) had the best results.
According to CoinGecko, Filecoin (+27.3%) topped the list of the top 100 most capitalised digital assets in the past 24 hours, while Bitcoin Gold (-12.1%) topped the list of fallers.
In last week's top 100 cryptocurrencies, Filecoin performed best (+90.8%) and Tenset performed worst (-18.2%).
August forecasts
July was the best period for digital gold in the last nine months. According to its results the coin grew by 27% and closed trading at about $23,800. The cryptocurrency showed a higher growth rate only in 2012.
Generally, August is considered not the most favorable month for BTC. Over the past 11 years, the asset has ended up rising only five times and falling six times. The average increase has been 26% and the average decrease 15%. If the digital asset opts for the first scenario this August, it could end the month at $30,000. If it chooses the second scenario, it could close the month at around $20,000.
