Bitcoin struggles under $100K

The past few days have seen exciting developments in the cryptocurrency industry, with several factors affecting the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins.

At the beginning of the week, US President Donald Trump continued to escalate his trade war, announcing a 25% import tax on steel and aluminum coming from abroad to the United States.

This announcement sparked a new wave of anxiety in the financial markets, but it did not affect the cryptocurrency sector as strongly as it was observed at the beginning of the month.

Following the announcement, the price of Bitcoin fell from around $98,000 to nearly $97,000, and on February 11, the bears were able to take control of the market and pushed the price to $95,000 before rising again to return to over $96,000.

With the release of the US Consumer Price Index data on February 12, the pressure on the market increased, as the figures showed that inflation in the world’s largest economy was higher than expected.

These numbers led to a sudden drop in Bitcoin to below $95,000, accompanied by significant declines in most altcoins.

However, in the following two days, the market witnessed a remarkable recovery, as the price of Bitcoin rose to the $97,000 level, with many altcoins recording significant increases.

Ripple (XRP) topped the list of best performing cryptocurrencies, as its value increased by more than 12% to reach $2.8.

This recovery came after the US Securities and Exchange Commission decided to approve Grayscale’s application to convert the XRP Trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

While the weekly charts of major coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum were in the red, there were notable exceptions in several lower-ranked cryptocurrencies.

For example, XRP has risen by 16% in the past seven days, BNB has risen by 13%, and ADA has risen by 9%.

While other currencies remained in their sideways course and did not rise as much as the aforementioned alternative digital currencies did.