Bitcoin steadies after steep losses

The crypto wiped out around 18% last week in its worst weekly performance this year

Bitcoin rose slightly on Monday, steadying after logging steep losses over the past week, with sentiment towards cryptocurrencies remaining fragile amid continued institutional selling and heightened Middle East tensions.

Bitcoin gained 1.5% to $63,053.7 by 06:23 GMT. The crypto wiped out around 18% last week in its worst weekly performance this year.

Bitcoin was battered by sustained, steadily increasing institutional selling over the past four weeks, which was reflected chiefly in capital outflows from spot exchange-traded funds.

Institutional selling came amid waning appetite for crypto, spurred by risk aversion over the Iran war and its impact on interest rates.

Investors were also seen pivoting into assets with artificial intelligence exposure, specifically equities, amid growing optimism towards the sector over crypto. Still, Bitcoin found some relief as the AI rally came to a halt on Friday and Monday.

Broader crypto prices largely gained on Monday, tracking a mild recovery in Bitcoin. But bigger gains were limited by persistent risk-aversion, especially amid a resurgence of action in the Middle East.

But escalating action in the Middle East, with Iran and U.S. trading strikes over the past week, largely diminished hopes for peace. Oil prices surged on this notion, spooking broader markets.

Concerns over the U.S. central bank potentially raising or maintaining high interest rates also grew following stronger-than-expected U.S. nonfarm payrolls data on Friday. Strength in the labour market gives the country’s central bank more headroom to hike rates– a scenario that bodes poorly for non-yielding, speculative assets like crypto.

Among altcoins, Ether advanced 3.4% to $1,666.44, recovering from a near 20% wipeout.

XRP and Solana added 1.3% each, while Cardano and BNB advanced 0.4% and 1.3%, respectively.

Among memecoins, Dogecoin gained 0.8%.