Bitcoin (BTC) led the charge on Friday, making a significant 10% recovery to be trading just under $84,000. The increase came after strong signals from Susan Collins, president of the Boston Federal Reserve. She indicated that the agency would intervene with market support if needed. Market uncertainty is still high, causing a huge shakeout with total liquidations across crypto markets at $2.18 billion.
Collins stated in an interview with the Financial Times that the Fed is prepared to deploy "various tools" to stabilize the market should liquidity concerns rise. Her comments come as instability has reached new highs in the bond market. In a flight to quality, risk-off moment in stocks, investors are selling the 10-year Treasury Note, a key mortgage and long-term loan benchmark — today pushing its yield up toward 4.5%.
"The core interest rate tool we use for monetary policy is, certainly not the only tool in the toolkit and probably not the best way to address challenges of liquidity or market functioning," - Susan Collins, head of the Boston Federal Reserve (Fed)
After an early week plunge to near $70,000, Bitcoin’s price jumped back above $82,500 on Friday. At the beginning of the week, it had even dropped to a new year-to-date low of just $74,508. As of Thursday, the cryptocurrency topped the $83,000 level. This spike was certainly catalyzed by Collins’ statement and the announcement of better than anticipated Producer Price Index (PPI) data.
This positive momentum in the crypto market is matched by some encouraging news on the economic data front. The Producer Price Index (PPI) is a measure of inflation for the prices that domestic producers are charging for their goods. Inflation rate dropped by 0.4% month-on-month – its biggest fall since October 2023. March’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data has just come out. February’s reading was 2.8% and it came in a full tenth lower than forecast at 2.4%.
Bitcoin’s growth sent shockwaves through the rest of the crypto market, pumping up nearly every other coin on the top 30. Ethereum (ETH) was up 3 percent, XRP was up 2.5 percent, SOL was up 8 percent and Dogecoin (DOGE) was up 4 percent on the day.
Solana’s price is on the up and up and is trading at $117.31 this Friday afternoon. This represents a 3.4% jump from its debut opening price of $112.80. The shift turned around the index’s 4%-plus loss on Thursday, which was driven by risk-off sentiments that continue to pervade as fears of a global trade war remain. The smart contracts token has shed about 10% after a strong late summer run-up. It had rocketed to $120 as a result of US President Donald Trump’s 90-day tariff freeze announcement on Wednesday.
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Collins recommended that the Fed look beyond forward guidance and use other tools in the central bank’s monetary policy arsenal. Such tools might serve an important role in rapidly deploying to challenges of liquidity or market functioning.
