(Photo Illustration by Filip Radwanski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The price of bitcoin fell 48 percent in two days and lost 30 percent of its value this week, moving in tandem with risk assets and challenging the narrative that bitcoin acts as a safe haven asset in times of political and economic uncertainty.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $5,364, about 40 percent up from a low of $3,858 late Thursday night – the lowest since May 2019. Bitcoin has historically demonstrated strong recoveries from similarly violent sell-offs.
Crypto exchanges briefly went offline early Friday morning, and the New York State Department of Financial Services is requiring licensed crypto firms to produce coronavirus contingency plans.
On Thursday afternoon, between President Trump's speech about travel restrictions and before Christine Lagarde's speech in which she refused to cut rates, the crypto markets fell 20 to 30 percent in the span of an hour in one of bitcoin's sharpest ever selloffs. Gold, platinum, palladium, gasoline, and sugar plummeted around the same time.
"The latest market meltdown centers around liquidity (or lack thereof) as investors sell whatever they can to minimize additional losses or cover their positions," Kevin Kelly, lead analyst at Delphi Digital, said in an investor note Thursday. "The old adage 'cash is king' rings truer than ever at times like this as markets crater and hysteria takes hold. Beware fakeout rallies and false bottoms as they've claimed more careers than they've made."
Americans said credit was harder to access last month, according to a survey from the New York branch of the Federal Reserve. The March Survey of Consumer Expectations found that “respondents were more pessimistic about future credit availability as well, with the share of households expecting it will be harder to obtain credit a year from now also rising.”
Wall Street drifted through a muted day of trading Tuesday, with stocks and bonds making modest moves ahead of reports later in the week with the potential to move markets.
Cheddar News breaks down what to expect on The Day Ahead, as earnings from Albertsons and Carmax are on tap to be released while Fed minutes are due on Wednesday ahead of its meeting next month.
Karla Dennis, CEO and founder of Karla Dennis & Associates Inc., joined Cheddar News to explain what's needed in order to file for a tax extension and avoid penalties.
Irrigreen, an irrigation system startup that develops robotic sprinkler systems for homeowners and recently, recently secured $15 million in seed funding. Shane Dyer, CEO and co-founder of Irrigreen, joined Cheddar News to explain the benefits of the company's system that saves water with less equipment.
Automakers around the world are betting big on electric vehicles. Cheddar News took a peek at some of the models of the electric future at the New York International Auto Show.
Stocks closed mixed ahead of the release of more economic data. Matthew Johnson, president of Johnson Wealth & Income Management, joined Cheddar News to also weigh in on last week's jobs data and the status of the country's labor market and what that could mean for another Fed decision.
