Bitcoin below $79,000, XRP leads losses as traders start betting on a Fed hike

Bitcoin eased to just under $79,000 in Asian morning hours Thursday, down almost 1% on the day, after briefly trading above $80,000 for the first time since May.

XRP fell hardest among the majors, down almost 3% to just above $1.41, while holding a 28% weekly gain that still leads the group. Hyperliquid’s HYPE slipped over 1% to just under $81 and tron under 1% to just above 33 cents.

Solana ran against the move, up almost 4% to just above $101 and 19% on the week. Ether added 1% to just under $2,494, BNB almost 1% to just under $703 and dogecoin held at just under 9 cents.

Weekly gains have narrowed sharply as the rolling window moves past last week’s surge. Bitcoin’s seven-day gain has fallen to 14% from 23% a day earlier, and ether’s to 11% from 29%.

Rate expectations are moving against the rally. Shorter-dated Treasuries fell overnight as traders added to bets on a rate increase, cutting against the lower-yield backdrop that lifted bitcoin from below $68,000 last week. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh delivers his first Jackson Hole keynote as chair on Friday, three weeks before the Sept. 15-16 rate decision.

Joel Kruger, markets strategist at LMAX Group, said technical measures are in overbought territory on daily charts but that severely overbought conditions do not always unwind through a major reversal.

He put the next confirmation level at the May high near $82,820, a break above which would open the way back toward $100,000.

Equities went the other way. Nvidia rose almost 5% in extended trading after signalling strong sales growth through 2028, lifting Marvell Technology and Sandisk with it. MSCI’s Asia Pacific index gained half a percent, led by SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, while South Korea’s Kospi rose almost 2%.

Meanwhile, Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast that falling open interest points to short covering rather than fresh buying, with spot ETF inflows supplying the genuine demand.

“With liquidity support limited, is this rally becoming structural—or still running on borrowed time?,” the firm concluded.

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