Markets • March 15, 2023, 12:50PM EDT 
Quick Take
- Bitcoin was trading around $24,400, down 1.3% over the past few hours.
- Banking worries have picked up again, with European banks now coming under increased scrutiny.
- Charles Schwab’s chief investment strategist, Liz Ann Sonders, says one metric suggests stocks might be overvalued.
Stay updated on Pro Crypto Ecosystems news by locking ACS tokens with The Block.
Connect/Create Wallet You can unlock at any time.* No wallet? No problem. You can set one up for free. We recommend Torus for first-time users.*a 2% locking fee will be added at the time of locking. Learn more about Access Protocol 
Crypto prices slipped on Wednesday as banking worries persisted and some analysts suggested stocks could be overvalued.
Bitcoin was trading at around $24,400 by 12:30 p.m. EDT, down about 1.3% over the past few hours, according to TradingView data. Ether dipped about 2% to $1,650.
Investors had flocked to bitcoin as it is “the preeminent non-sovereign money amidst banking sector turmoil and stablecoin de-peggings,” Matt Kunke, a Junior Strategist at GSR, told The Block. Kunke added bitcoin’s performance “will likely depend on whether bank run worries fade.” Banking sentiment has begun to wane again, particularly in Europe where Credit Suisse has come into focus after falling as much as 30% after reporting “material weakness,” Kunke and his colleague Brian Rudick noted, “The Swiss bank announced it found ‘material weakness’ in its financial reporting process from past years, and the Saudi National Bank, Credit Suisse’s largest financial backer, said it would not provide additional financial support,” GSR’s market update noted. Trading was temporarily halted for Credit Suisse and several other European banks amid the tumult.
Taking a beat?
“U.S. markets are beginning to price a higher probability of a Fed pause as sentiment deteriorates,” the GSR analysts said, adding that “lower-than-expected retail sales and PPI releases provide increased flexibility for the Fed to potentially pause at next week’s FOMC.”
The Fed will announce its latest interest rate decision a week from today, with the market now pricing in a near 58% probability of a pause.
FedWatch target rate probabilities
FedWatch, the CME’s tool, analyzes the probability of changes to the Fed rate using 30-Day Fed Funds futures pricing data, now shows a 57.9% probability of a pause — up from about 30% yesterday.
Rule of 20
Charles Schwab’s chief investment strategist, Liz Ann Sonders, says the Rule of 20 suggests stocks might be overvalued.
S&P 500 P/E + US CPI YoY
The rule says if the S&P 500 price-earnings ratio and CPI year-on-year equal 20, markets may be fairly valued.
The S&P 500 P/E is currently around 20.65, according to Multpl data, while year-on-year inflation came in at 6% in February — suggesting markets are overvalued.
