Bitcoin price sees new 2023 high as CPI sends BTC price above $26K
Bitcoin (BTC) surged above $26,000 on March 14 as US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data showed mixed inflation signals.
CPI Makes 9-Month BTC Price Highs
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as sudden volatility started upon the release of February’s CPI numbers.
Inflation rose 6% year-on-year, while the monthly figure was 0.4% – both in line with expectations. Goods less food and energy increased by 0.5%, somewhat higher than forecast.
Bitcoin appeared to react positively to the data, allowing the Federal Reserve to avoid being caught between firmer inflation and avoiding rate hikes amid an ongoing banking crisis.
In response, Venturefounder, a contributing analyst at chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, suggested the market was now anticipating a “pivot” to the upside – a major boon for risk assets more broadly.
“Market: Oh yes, big win in fight against inflation! No more rate hikes and Fed to cut rates by 50 BPS before EoY 2023,” he tweeted.
“If Powell changes the 2% inflation target, it will be the biggest blanket move by the Fed since the 1970s that took the USD off the gold standard.”
Still, trade resource Game of Trades argued that the CPI was not yet low enough for the Fed to “aggressively” change its stance, echoing actions that followed the March 2020 COVID-19 crash.
“Consensus gets it spot on as CPI comes in at 6%. But it’s not low enough to give the Fed room to step aggressively during the ongoing crisis, as it did during C19,” a tweet read.
Volatility ongoing as BTC price eyes $26,000
The CPI is notorious for triggering unpredictable BTC price movements and as such the picture remained unclear at the time of writing as to where BTC/USD would go next.
Related: Bitcoin price approaches $25,000 as analysts bet on CPI impact
Before the release of the CPI, significantly liquidity on the sell side was parked at $25,000 and beyond, this is the main target for bulls on low timeframes.
Bitcoin’s local high of $26,150 nevertheless marked a new record for 2023 and the effort since last June.
BTC/USD further took out the key 200-period moving average that acted as resistance on weekly timeframes.
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