Crypto Market March 7 CHK: Bitcoin continues to trade in a tight range around 22,000, the market is up slightly

Bitcoin and the whole market moved around a narrow zone while waiting for news from the testimony of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell before the US Congress.

Cryptocurrency Market

Market data shows that Bitcoin price is still clinging to the $22,400 level with a 24-hour trading volume of just around $18 billion.

Moving sideways throughout the weekend, the market currently offers few trading opportunities as concerns grow about the impact of upcoming macroeconomic data from the US.

Specifically, February’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), scheduled to be announced on March 14, is expected to be “hotter” than expected, an analyst at Venturefounder said.

“Bitcoin forms a higher low and the RSI divergence continues to fall. Given the hot CPI numbers and the FOMC meeting later this month, March could be a bad month for risk assets including BTC. If the crash occurs, the market will target $19,000.”

Guest comments outline BTC’s potential future direction below $20,000 and highlight a bearish divergence in the relative strength index (RSI), which forms as the index’s trajectory follows. opposite direction to price.

The CPI tends to cause short-term volatility in risky assets, however, this is usually short-lived.

Popular trader, Crypto Ed, also predicts that $19,000 is where BTC’s next local floor will be.

“The biggest bull trap ever, but the market has bottomed out. BTC is likely to return to $19,000 before breaking the $30,000 mark.”

In the new issue of Weekly Open, trader nicknamed DonAlt said that Bitcoin is currently facing stiff resistance across all timeframes. With Bitcoin trying to regain the $23,000 threshold, the analyst believes that BTC’s bull market structure remains intact. However, he warned that time for BTC bulls is running out.

“Currently, BTC has yet to make a new low, while it has formed a higher high. However, the market still needs to get back to the $23,000 area, otherwise the bulls will still face a rather dire outlook.”

If Bitcoin bulls fail to recapture $23,000 in the short term, DonAlt believes a correction to $20,000 is possible. However, a drop to this level does not necessarily mean that Bitcoin’s 2023 breakout is over.

“Even if we go back to $20,000, this is still a bull market. $20,000 with a 10% drop from current levels will “hurt” many investors, but this is only a temporary retracement.”

Altcoins edged up slightly as BTC continues to move sideways in a tight range above $22,000. Over the past 24 hours, Decentraland (MANA) has been the best performing project, with an increase of nearly 8%. Followed by GMX (GMX) with a profit of nearly 7%. Other projects such as Optimism (OP), Fantom (FTM), ImmutableX (IMX), Aptos (APT), Enjin Coin (ENJ), Theta Network (THETA), Neo (NEO), NEM (XEM)… increased from 4 -5%.

Ethereum (ETH) continues to have price action trailing BTC. In the short term, the second largest asset by market capitalization is still trading in a tight range above $1,550 and is currently trading around $1,570, up slightly by 0.4% from yesterday.

Macro factors

The US stock market gained in Monday’s trading session (March 6), maintaining the uptrend of the previous week in the context of investors entering a busy week with economic information. Crude oil prices also rose on expectations of growth in energy demand in China.

At the close, the Dow Jones gained 40.47 points, or 0.12%, to close at 33,431.44 points. The S&P 500 index rose 0.07% to 4,048.42 points. The Nasdaq index fell 0.11% to 11,675.74 points.

At the session’s peak, the Dow was up 181 points and the Nasdaq was up nearly 1.2%.

Yields on U.S. Treasuries rose slightly, with 1-year yields ending the session just over 1 percentage point higher, after repeatedly breaking through the key 4% threshold in the last week. The recent uptrend in interest rates reflects the fear that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will continue to raise interest rates to higher levels and keep interest rates high for a while. Rising yields have also pushed up interest rates on consumer loans and could be a sign of a decline in consumer confidence.

Despite these fluctuations, some tech stocks are still strong. Apple is up nearly 2% after being given a buy recommendation by Goldman Sachs. With a weight of 7% of the total capitalization of the S&P 500, Apple’s rally this session provided a boost to the index. Alphabet and Microsoft stocks shared a light green session.

Investors are waiting for the testimony of the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) before the US Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mr. Powell’s statements during this appearance will guide investors to better understand the Fed’s stance on inflation and interest rate hikes. From there, the market can determine the next direction for the price of the asset.

“It would be wise for the market not to rush, as this week is an important week that could change the direction of assets,” said LPL Financial analyst Quincy Krosby, explaining the “surprise” swoon” of the market on Monday – the opening session of a busy week.

In addition to Mr. Powell’s two testimony before the Senate and House, this week there are some important US economic data to be released, especially the February jobs report. Dow Jones surveyed forecasts for the US economy’s non-farm sector to add 225,000 new jobs in February, after the market enjoyed explosive growth with 517,000 new jobs in January.

It was January’s better-than-expected jobs data that has put downward pressure on the market recently, alongside data showing a slow decline in inflation. That’s because the prolonged tightening of the labor market means that the Fed will have to prolong its campaign to raise interest rates to fight inflation.

European stocks fell in the first session of the week, also because of the concern that interest rates would continue to rise. The Stoxx 600 Index fell 0.02%.

Emerging markets increased by 0.58%; MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan increased 0.49%; Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.11%; and the MSCI index of global stocks rose 0.27%.

Brent crude oil futures in London rose 0.41% to settle at $86.18 per barrel. WTI oil futures in New York increased by 0.98%, closing at 80.46 USD/barrel.

Despite continuing to be under downward pressure from concerns about rising interest rates globally, crude oil prices were supported this session when the dollar depreciated. The Dollar Index, which measures the dollar’s strength against a basket of six other major currencies, closed down nearly 0.2 percent.

In addition, oil prices were also supported by expectations of an improvement in Chinese demand. Investors believe that during the ongoing session of the National People’s Congress, the country will announce more measures to support the economic recovery after removing the Zero Covid policy.

In a sign of a better oil demand outlook, Saudi Arabia had a second straight month of raising the price of its Arab light crude, its main export, to customers in Asia.