Bitcoin and Ether Prices Stagnate as Traders Take Wait-and-See Approach

After staging a recovery earlier this week, cryptocurrencies were stuck in a holding pattern Friday afternoon.

Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) appeared to be in a period of consolidation where prices bounce around within a tight range, showing indecisiveness among traders. 

Bitcoin and ether had both climbed by less than a percent. Notable performers on CoinDesk’s big board include XRP (XRP), up 10 percent, Stellar (XLM) in the green 3 percent and dash, up 4 percent. All 24-hour price changes are from 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET) on March 27. 

Traditional markets, meanwhile, continued to reel from the record unemployment claims in the U.S., part of the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, despite a $2 trillion stimulus package making its way to President Donald Trump for his signature. U.S. stocks closed with the S&P 500 index down 3 percent. Earlier in the day, Japan’s Nikkei 255 closed its session up 3.8 percent. For Europe, the FTSE 100 Index closed in the red 3.3 percent. 

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