Bitcoin threatens to clear $22,000 as support as the BTC price suffers against the rising DXY.
Bitcoin
BTC
take out
$22,428
fell to a three-week low on March 8 as stronger-than-expected US employment data dampened risk assets.
Employment Figures Raise Fed Hawks, BTC Price Falls
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD falling to $21,858 on Bitstamp.
At the time of writing, the pair was trying to maintain $22,000 as support, and the lower targets of traders are still far from $21,300.
“Bitcoin is not showing the strength I wanted to see at the beginning (a small bounce happened yesterday),” summed up Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of the Eight firm.
“In this case, look for a little bit after sweeping the lows at $21.2K before it explodes. If we need $30K, $23K is needed.”
Fellow trading account Daan Crypto Trades, meanwhile, argued that the volatility is due to movements in the Bitcoin futures market.
“Great depth of bid on the pair of Binance futures. It is connected to the slope in the Open Interest,” he revealed that day.
“Remember that walls can be an illusion where they can be pulled at any time. It sounds like a big move is coming, either way. ”
Macro events have produced mixed results when it comes to the movement of crypto markets.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s appearance before the US Congress the previous day did not require a response, but the jobs data that day sent the wind down.
“Expectations were 197K for the working population. The actual number is 242,000, which is better than expected,” van de Poppe wrote in the comments section about the increase in non-farm employment today.
“For risk investors, it’s not good because we heard Powell wants to raise rates in 2023.”
Such “hot” employment numbers depress risk assets, as they mean the Fed has more leeway to keep monetary conditions tight for longer.
The dollar hits a two-month high of three months
Estimates of how far the Fed would go at the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on March 22 reflected growing uncertainty about inflation.
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Instead of 25 basis points as in February, the market now favors an increase of 50 basis points, according to data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
The US Dollar Index (DXY) also caught a potential surprise in Bitcoin capital.
After a strong session on March 7, the index rallied the day after hitting 105.88 – the highest level since December 1, 2022.
“Looking at the DXY… there is a near perfect setup for a negative deviation higher above 106, then a big pullback, or drop below 100 has started,” investor David Brady responded.
