John Isige
Bitcoin price is on its third weekly bearish candle this month while trading at $23,397 at the time of writing. The largest cryptocurrency is still reeling from macro pressure emanating from rising inflation levels globally. Moreover, the move by regulators to increase regulatory oversight in the industry has left investors with no option but to watch from the sidelines.
The recent spike in Bitcoin price to new 2023 highs around $25,465 has been attributed to the China narrative. However, tokens hailing from the Asian economic giant like Conflux, NEO, and VeChain rallied the most.
News that Hong Kong will officially allow the trading of cryptocurrencies, with the help of a proposed regulatory framework reverberating across the market since mid-February, triggered bullish momentum across the market. Experts believe the volume that sent BTC to $25,465 mainly came from China with the US lagging.
Bitcoin Price Tumbles As Inflation Bites
Investors are slowly realizing that the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) may have made a hasty decision by hiking interest rates by 25 basis points in early February against a backdrop of a 50 basis points increase in the previous review. Jerome Powell’s deflationary remarks may have come too early because data released after the pronouncement suggests inflation is still a huge concern.
The PCE Price Index for January jumped 5.4% in reference to a year ago and compared to 5.3% recorded for December. Investors are concerned because market watchers expected the PCE Price Index at 5.0% for January. Furthermore, the core rate – the index excluding the prices of food and energy ticked up by 4.7% in reference to December’s 4.6%, and significantly higher than the economists’ expected growth of 4.3%.
On a month-over-month basis, the PCE Price Index climbed 0.6% in January, beating December’s 0.2%, while surpassing expectations of a 0.5% increase. Similarly, the core rate jumped 0.6%, above December’s 0.4%, and the market watcher’s expectation of a 0.4% increase.
January Inflation & Policy Takeaway: inflation remains stubborn & sticky between 4-5%. Service inflation continues to increase with goods disinflation cooling. Risk of a March 50bps hike rising and we are clearing moving toward a 5.5% policy peak at a minimum. pic.twitter.com/SrF1D2BBdD
— Joseph Brusuelas (@joebrusuelas) February 24, 2023
Bitcoin led risky assets in a widespread decline, wiping out $2,068 from its new 2023 high to exchange hands at $23,397 at the time of writing. The Stock market has also come under pressure with investors foreshadowing a 50-basis point rate hike in March. Despite January’s worrying economic report, some investors expect the Fed’s policy meeting in March to settle for a 25-basis point interest rate hike.
These Are The Levels To Watch For Bitcoin Price This Week
Bitcoin bulls and bears are currently engaged in a fierce tug-of-war in the range highlighted by two yellow bands on the weekly time frame chart. However, bulls have been on the receiving end since last week, with the odds likely to favor a continued pullback.
Price action to the upside has been capped by seemingly strong resistance zones, starting with the confluence hurdle at $24,684 – formed by the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) (line in red) and the 200-day EMA (line in blue). In addition to this, bulls must prepare accordingly to battle another seller congestion zone at $25,000, which if broken could pave the way for the anticipated move to $28,000.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator still supports a bullish outcome in Bitcoin price as it upholds a buy signal from early August. On the downside, investors cannot afford to ignore the possibility of the down leg stretching to seek support at $22,000 and $20,000, respectively.
$BTC: Break 23.6k and you probably see 24.6k. Looking at the HVN on volume profile.
Still a no trade zone for me personally. Gut still feels like we dip lower but I can't say either way confidently. #Bitcoin #BTC pic.twitter.com/TeOOKKV7Nu
— Altcoin Sherpa (@AltcoinSherpa) February 28, 2023
Nevertheless, such a drop may allow sidelined market participants to buy Bitcoin. As demand builds, so will the momentum behind Bitcoin price, hence the probability of tagging $28,000 is still high even with a drop to $22,000 or $20,000.
Bitcoin Alternatives To Consider Buying Today
Before you start accumulating Bitcoin, do you know about these new coins whose presales are selling out quickly in 2023? Investors are diversifying their portfolios with the best crypto presales, promising a better risk-reward ratio.
Fight Out (FGHT), for instance, is a leading move-to-earn project currently conducting a presale ahead of its initial exchange listing expected in April. Investors scooping up this Web3 fitness platform have so far raised $4.82 million.
FGHT is the token powering Fight Out’s ecosystem built around supporting the global population to live healthy lifestyles without breaking the bank by buying expensive NFTs. Fight Out is using Web3 solutions to transition the vast Web2 audience to Web3 products like the metaverse.
Countries around the world are concerned about climate change. C+Charge (CCHG) is the world’s first on and off-chain platform to open up the carbon credit industry to individuals, mainly those driving electric vehicles.
C+Charge is building an application to revolutionize the EV charging market and support a global standard for the same. Users in the ecosystem will earn carbon credits for paying at charging stations with CCHG. The carbon credits earned can then be used to mint tradable NFTs. Over $1.8 million has been raised in a presale, expected to close in late March.
Related Articles:
- Ethereum Price Prediction – Will ETH Break Free to Successfully Target $2k?
- Stacks Price Climbs 12% to Reach $0.873 – How Much Higher Can STX Go as Bitcoin NFT Fever Grows?
- NFT Pioneer Yuga Labs Launches Its First NFT Collection On Bitcoin Network “TwelveFold”
Fight Out - Next Big Train-to-Earn Crypto
- Backed by LBank Labs, Transak
- Earn Rewards for Working Out
- Level Up and Compete in the Metaverse
- Presale Live Now - $5M Raised
- Real-World Community, Gym Chain
This article was written for Business 2 Community by John Isige.
Learn how to publish your content on B2C
Join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage
Add B2C to your Google News Feed
Discuss This Article
Add a New Comment /Reply
Thanks for adding to the conversation!
Our comments are moderated. Your comment may not appear immediately.