Bitcoin (BTC), the most valuable digital currency in the market, lost almost 3% of its value in the last 24 hours as Ethereum registered losses of over 4.1% during the same period of time. The beginning of the week was marked by negative market sentiment and most digital assets among the top 30 registered moderate losses. 

Bitcoin Falls to $18,000 While Ethereum Hits $1,350

Bitcoin has fallen to $18,200 in some exchanges during the European morning of September 19, 2022. The digital currency has reached the lowest price since mid-June 2022, showing that there are still bears trying to push the price of the largest cryptocurrency down. It might be possible for Bitcoin to reach a lower price in the near future if bears keep control of the market. 

Other virtual currencies have also experienced losses. Ethereum (ETH), which has recently transitioned from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm to a PoS network, has lost 4.1% of its value. During the last week, Ethereum lost almost 24% of its value. Some experts believe that ETH experienced a buy the rumour sell the news situation where investors sold their ETH positions after the Merge. 

Terra (LUNA), Rocket Pool (RPL), Terra Luna Classic (LUNC), EOS (EOS), AMP (AMP), and Ethereum (ETH), were the digital currencies that registered the most significant losses among the top 100 during the last week. Cosmos (EVMOS), Ethereum Classic (ETC), EOS (EOS), Litecoin (LTC), Chainlink (LINK), and Waves (WAVES) registered the most considerable losses among the top 100 in the last 24 hours, according to data shared by CoinGecko. 

Stock prices also slipped on Monday during a volatile day ahead of the FED’s policy meeting that will kick off on Tuesday. Therefore, we see that there is still a close relationship between traditional financial markets and the crypto industry. This is something that has been in this way for almost a year and could continue as long as institutional investments continue to flow into digital assets. 

Monetary policy has been one of the main topics influencing financial markets, including cryptocurrencies. When the FED decided to relax its monetary policy when the COVID-19 crisis expanded, virtual currencies started a new bull trend. Things changed in November 2021, when the FED transitioned from a dovish to a more hawkish stance. 

Now, several investors are waiting for the FED to change to a more dovish position as inflation rates are close to record highs. Nevertheless, it might take several months before we see the FED pivoting and moving from the current position to a more relaxed one that could help risk assets such as digital assets or stocks. 

It is also worth pointing out that other central banks are following similar steps to the FED, which is having an impact on the flow of money towards digital assets. For example, the European Central Bank (ECB) has just started interest rates, which means that one of the richest continents in the world is still lagging behind in terms of monetary policy.