After charging 20% higher in March, the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price went the opposite direction in April.
Depending on your time zone, the world's number 1 token by market cap kicked off the month just past trading for US$45,843. By the late hours of 30 April, the Bitcoin price stood at US$38,063, down 17% for the month.
In a sign of its continuing volatility, Bitcoin traded for as high as US$47,313 in April while it reached lows of US$37,585, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Up 1.6% so far in May, the digital token is down 44% from its 10 November all-time highs.
Image source: Getty Images
Why did the Bitcoin price retrace in April?
The biggest headwind facing the Bitcoin price last month was the spectre of a series of significant interest rates from the US Federal Reserve, with other major central banks expected to follow.
Commenting on Bitcoin's slide earlier in April, eToro's market analyst and crypto expert Simon Peters said:
The moves down underpin what has emerged as a significant trend in 2022 – that cryptoassets don't appear immune to rate hike environments. Moving to a similar beat to traditional stock markets such as the Nasdaq 100, crypto appears to be struggling under an increasing rate environment.
Indeed, the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 14% in April, compared to the 17% fall in the Bitcoin price.
But it wasn't all bad news for crypto investors.
Buy your luxury car with crypto
During the month gone by, CoinSpot reported that it was partnering with luxury car retailer Dutton Garage to allow its customers to buy vehicles with a range of 30 some cryptos, including Bitcoin.
Customers can either pay for all or part of their shiny new Porsches or Mercedes with crypto, with any additional payments made with good old Aussie dollars.
"Increasing crypto's utility is the key to driving mass adoption of what we believe is the future of finance," CoinSpot chief product officer Gary Howells said at the time the partnership was announced.
With the Bitcoin price falling 17% in April, swapping the tokens out for a new vehicle may have been fortuitous timing.
