The Bitcoin price came under selling pressure that has intensified after consolidation around the $46,000 figure in the aftermath of rejection from 2022 highs registered above $48,000 last week. As part of the renewed downside correction, the BTC/USD pair dropped to a local low of $44,300 before rebounding towards the 20-DMA, currently at $44,700.
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization fell after a series of fresh hawkish remarks by the Fed officials as further hints at more aggressive tightening fueled demand for the greenback. Of note, the USD index rallied to fresh May 2020 highs around 99.75 earlier in the day before retreating towards the 99.30 intermediate support zone during the European trading hours.
The technical picture pointed to bitcoin's bearish risks as the price had been struggling to break a significant local resistance around the $47,000 figure over the past few days. Now that the coin is making some recovery attempts, the $45,000 mark is in the market focus as a daily close above this short-term threshold would imply that the bearish potential is limited from here.
Other cryptocurrencies came under pressure along with BTC. Ethereum, the second-largest digital currency, has been losing ground since Tuesday. The ETH price managed to hold above the $3,200 support zone during the sell-off to bounce back to $3,300 in recent trading.
Meanwhile, Ripple is already rebounding back towards the $0,800 mark, albeit staying on the defensive. In the immediate term, digital currencies could trim losses further if the dollar holds in negative territory during the North American trading session.