Bitcoin traded at $78,500 as the Japanese yen breached 160 per dollar in Tokyo trading, while a U.S. strike on Iran\u2019s Larak Island added to bearish price prediction. The moves followed Friday\u2019s broad dollar advance and hawkish remarks from Warsh at Jackson Hole, which lifted expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike.<\/p>\n
Bitcoin\u2019s daily loss remained under 1% even as the strike in Iran lifted oil prices and pushed stocks lower. The market focus was whether bitcoin could hold near $78,000 amid yen weakness, higher rate expectations, and rising geopolitical risk.<\/p>\n
The month\u2019s closing ETF total was also in focus as a measure of whether an eight-day bitcoin ETF inflow run continued through the change in rate expectations.<\/p>\n\n
Bitcoin ETF Flows, Coinglass<\/a><\/p>\n Bond investors had been pricing a Fed positioned to hike, and the repricing had pulled institutional money out of Bitcoin<\/a> ETFs across May and June. Monday was the final trading session of August, making the month\u2019s closing ETF total a closely watched signal for whether the eight-day inflow run survived the shift in rate expectations.<\/p>\n August\u2019s closing ETF flow total is the more immediate crypto-market indicator. The data offered a read on institutional appetite as bitcoin traded near $78,000 amid competing market pressures.<\/p>\n EXPLORE:\u00a0Best Crypto Presales With Asymmetric Upside in the Current Market<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The first force is currency stress. The yen has long been used as a funding currency for investments in U.S. stocks and Treasury notes, placing its movement near intervention-sensitive levels alongside broader market positioning.<\/p>\n U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that recent yen moves had been contained and did not warrant a joint U.S.-Japan intervention like the one seen the previous month. Bessent had warned Friday that a disorderly yen market could feed through to higher U.S. interest rates, linking Tokyo\u2019s currency market to Wall Street\u2019s rate outlook.<\/p>\n Scott Bessent, nominee for U.S. Treasury Secretary.<\/p>\n The second force is the repricing of rate expectations following Warsh\u2019s hawkish Jackson Hole remarks. The third is geopolitical: Reuters reported that U.S. forces struck Iran\u2019s Larak Island on Sunday and that oil rose as Gulf tensions flared.<\/p>\n Reuters has also reported that flows of crude and refined products through the Strait of Hormuz, which averaged about 18 million barrels per day before the conflict, fell to 4.8 million bpd in July and averaged around 2 million bpd so far in August, according to Kpler. The report said traders were increasingly treating disruptions to Middle East energy supplies as a new reality rather than a temporary shock.<\/p>\n Mapped routes of oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz from March 22 to March 24. Reuters reported that investors were turning to upcoming U.S. data, including the nonfarm payrolls report and consumer inflation figures, which could shape expectations ahead of the September Fed meeting. August\u2019s closing ETF flow total remained the more immediate crypto-market indicator.<\/p>\n The dollar\u2019s direction, the yen\u2019s movement near intervention-sensitive levels, and the path of rate expectations remain key variables for risk assets, including bitcoin.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nThree Forces Behind Bitcoin\u2019s $78,000 Test<\/h2>\n
\nVisit Coinbase<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nBitcoin Price Prediction: What Could Move BTC Next?<\/h2>\n