According to last week's results, the value of the first cryptocurrency sank by almost 10% (9.4%) and closed the seven-day period at $31,000. It traded at $29,647 on Monday morning.

By the way, since bitcoin updated the historical record in November 2021, soaring above $69,000, the cryptocurrency has already lost more than 55% in price.

Leading altcoins willingly adopted the trend of the main virtual asset and showed a confident negative. So, over the past seven days, the price of the Ethereum coin has dropped by 16.1%, Binance Coin has fallen by 13.9%, and Solana has completely lost a third of its value, falling by 32%.

According to the world's largest aggregator of data on virtual assets CoinGecko, today the total capitalization of the crypto market is $1.4 trillion.

The key indicator of fear and greed has dropped by 8 points over the week – up to 10 points – and is balancing at the level of "extreme fear". The cryptocurrency indicator of the dominance of the BTC increased by 42.4% over the week.

Market pressure factors

Bitcoin has been showing frightening negative dynamics for the sixth consecutive week. However, over the past seven days, the negative in the cryptocurrency market has reached its climax. So, over the past week, the fall in bitcoin's value has reached the biggest weekly decline since January of this year, when the BTC broke the lows of the past year below the $30,000 mark (on Thursday, the value of the main virtual asset decreased to $26,700).

The main downward factor for bitcoin on the eve was the permanent fall of key US stock indexes, in particular the NASDAQ Composite stock index. Throughout the past week, this indicator has shown a confident negative.

By the way, analysts have increasingly begun to emphasize the high level of correlation between the securities market and virtual assets against the background of intense expectation by each of them of the consequences of the geopolitical conflict in eastern Europe and the next steps of the US Federal Reserve.

As proof of the high correlation of the value of cryptocurrencies and stocks, the April trading results of the flagships of both markets can be cited. So, in the past month, the high-tech NASDAQ Composite indicator lost more than 12%, which was the highest level of decline since 2008.

At the same time, the value of bitcoin sank by 16.2% in April – the lowest indicator of this month since 2011.

Earlier, analysts of the investment company Arcane Research have already stated that the correlation of BTC and technology securities has peaked since July 2020.

In addition, cryptanalysts associate the current decline in the cryptocurrency market with the recent increase in the base interest rate by the US Fed. Investors are concerned that a rapid rise in inflation in the future will force the central bank to raise the rate even faster.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the central bank plans to act categorically to return the inflation rate in America to the two percent target. The Fed's decision, Powell said, will not be influenced even by the prospects of a decline in the country's economy in the short term.

Recall that following last week's meeting, the Fed raised the key rate by 50 basis points, now its range is 0.75-1% per annum. Earlier in March, the US central bank raised the rate by 25 basis points. The last time the central bank raised the rate following the results of two consecutive meetings was back in 2006. At the same time, there has not been an increase in the indicator by 50 basis points at the same time since 2000.

Expert forecasts

May is traditionally considered a good enough period for BTC. So, over the past 11 years, bitcoin has completed this month with an increase in seven cases and a fall in four. The average May rise is about 27%, and the decline is 6%.

However, recently, Global Macro Investor CEO Raoul Pal suggested that the coming May and the approaching June will be the most alarming months of the current year for the BTC, which means a new wave of sales in the cryptocurrency market is inevitable.

As for the preliminary scenarios of other popular crypto experts, the high volatility and unpredictable behavior of the digital asset market force them to make the most unexpected and sometimes diametrically opposite statements regarding its future.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz shared his opinion that the cryptocurrency market has not yet reached the bottom. The American trader believes that the correlation of bitcoin and the permanently declining US stock market will grow until digital gold reaches the equilibrium point.

Earlier, the founder of the investment company ARK Invest, Katie Wood, said that the bearish trend in the cryptocurrency market will change to bullish in the very near future. In addition, Wood predicted a decrease in the correlation of the cryptocurrency and the NASDAQ Composite stock index, calling this phenomenon "temporary".

At the same time, American entrepreneur Charles Hoskinson said that a new crypto winter has begun in the digital coin market. Hoskinson is sure that today there is not a single weighty factor that can provoke an upward rebound in the market.

Economist Benjamin Cowen holds the opposite opinion and says that in the near future, the cryptocurrency expects spectacular growth.

But the popular bitcoin critic Peter Schiff predicts the fall of the first cryptocurrency to the $10,000 mark. A significant condition for this may be the recent breakdown of the $30,000 level by the main digital asset, Schiff believes.

Against the backdrop of a spectacular decline in the value of the main digital asset, the CEO of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, Jesse Powell, said that he expects bitcoin to fall to $20,000. When the coin reaches this mark, the investor plans to direct the lion's share of his capital to buy cheap bitcoins.

At the same time, Mike McGlone, an expert from the Bloomberg news agency, believes that at the moment bitcoin is preparing the basis for spectacular growth in the future. After the completion of this process, McGlone said, the asset will begin to move towards the price ceiling – the $100,000 mark. As for the current drop in quotes of leading cryptocurrencies against the background of a decline in the US stock market, McGlone calls this a "common phenomenon" and is confident that in the near future bitcoin and Ethereum will move to spectacular growth.