Bitcoin reaches a new peak in 21 months while the dollar remains stable.

The dollar stabilized on Wednesday in cautious trading ahead of US inflation data later this week, which could affect the policy of the Federal Reserve, while Bitcoin fluctuated after a fake post on social media, causing market disruptions.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated that someone briefly accessed its X account on social media and posted a fake message claiming that it had approved Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The Securities and Exchange Commission said that it has not yet approved the matter.

Bitcoin reached a new peak of 47,897 dollars within 21 months after the fake announcement, before dropping to less than 45,000 dollars within minutes, after the Securities and Exchanges Commission deleted and denied its validity.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency decreased by 0.37% in its latest transactions, reaching $45,953. The expectations of a positive decision from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding exchange-traded funds, which is likely to attract billions of dollars in new investments, have supported Bitcoin prices in the past two months.

In the currency market, the dollar maintained its gains as the dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six currencies, reached 102.53 after rising 0.215% yesterday, Tuesday.

So far, the index has risen by 1% this month, after decreasing by 2% in December. Traders are reevaluating the possibilities regarding the size and timing of the US interest rate reduction.

The cautious sudden change by the Federal Reserve in December, when it predicted a 75 basis points cut in interest rates by 2024, led to increased market expectations of monetary easing, with traders’ expectations last month reaching reductions of up to 160 basis points.

Traders are focused on the release of the U.S. Consumer Price Index report tomorrow, Thursday, to help predict the likelihood of interest rate cuts in March. It is expected that the report will show a 0.2% monthly increase in inflation and a 3.2% annual increase.

On the other hand, the euro remained unchanged at $1.093, while the pound decreased by 0.05% to $1.2699. The Japanese yen lost 0.17% to reach $144.70. The Australian dollar increased by 0.22% to $0.6703 against the US dollar, and the New Zealand dollar rose by 0.09% to $0.6242 against the US dollar.

(Reuters)