Bitcoin Price Falls but Altcoins Rise. What's Driving Crypto Today. — Barrons.com
By Elsa OhlenBitcoin fell slightly early Wednesday while smaller cryptocurrencies enjoyed solid gainsBitcoin is down 0.2% over the last 24 hours to $103,268, according to CoinDesk data. The price of the world's largest crypto came close to breaking $105,000 Tuesday afternoon as the S&P 500 finally erased its year-to-date losses.Ether rose 4.8% while XRP gained 1.7% and Solana was up 2.9% early Wednesday.The combined market capitalization of cryptocurrencies rose 2.7% over the last 24 hours to $3.38 trillion, reaching $3.40 trillion Tuesday evening, FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich noted. Those are the highest values since early February, driven by increased altcoin buying, he added.April's consumer price index failed to substantially move cryptos, even if numbers came in better than feared.The market had worried about President Donald Trump's tariff policy's effect on inflation as import taxes typically increase prices. Higher inflation would nudge the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer, and higher borrowing costs push investors toward safer assets like gold and bonds — and away from riskier assets including cryptos.Bitcoin has been hovering around $104,000 for the past six days. As altcoins rise, this suggests rotation into smaller cryptocurrencies."This is quite expected behaviour as [Bitcoin] approach[s] the all-time highs of December and January, which served as turning points," Kuptsikevich notes.Positive sentiment around Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., might still be boosting digital assets. Late Monday, it was announced the company would be included in the S&P 500 from May 19. Shares closed 24% higher in the following trading session.While not entirely unexpected — Coinbase is one of the largest companies by market value not currently part of the index — it marked a milestone for the industry as the first crypto company to be included in the blue-chip index.Write to Elsa Ohlen at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.