Bitcoin price goes above $23.5,000 after highest EU inflation in history
Bitcoin (BTC) moved higher on August 18 as the latest data confirmed EU inflation at its highest ever.
Support and resistance approaching BTC spot price
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed that BTC/USD passed $23,500 at the time of writing, after maintaining $23,000 as support overnight.
Concerns over a deepening risk pull by assets had been widespread during the week, with Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) notably unable to break long-term resistance levels.
With bulls seemingly on the back foot, the mood among analysts was naturally wary.
“BTC broke down from this huge ascending channel/wedge everyone seems to be seeing,” wrote Daan Crypto Trades in part of his latest Twitter update.
“23.8-24K will act as resistance. Break back in and this would be a big bear trap. Bearish rejection and we go down.”
Near-term support, meanwhile, came in the form of whale purchases of $22,800 and up, chain monitoring resource Whalemap claimed.
Now just below Bitcoin’s 200-week moving average, the $22,800 zone should be the line in the sand to watch in the event of a market decline.
“Back to basics,” the Whalemap team in summary next to a chart showing the range of hodled whale coins by price point.
“Whale accumulations at $23,400-$22,800 remain the closest support we have for Bitcoin (if we start falling).”
Inflation breaks records
Macro triggers were clearly inflation-skewed on the day, with the EU’s 9.8% July headline.
Related: Bitcoin Miners Get 27% Less BTC After 3 Months of Major Sales
The July figure marked the bloc’s highest ever inflation reading, up from 9.6% year-on-year in June. For context, in July 2021 inflation was 2.5%.
“The lowest annual rates were recorded in France, Malta (both 6.8%) and Finland (8.0%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Estonia (23.2%), Latvia (21.3%) and Lithuania (20.9%)”, says a report from Eurostat.
“Compared with June, annual inflation fell in six Member States, remained stable in three and rose in eighteen.”
In an interview with Reuters on August 18, Isabel Schnabel, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), could not say with certainty that inflation had peaked.
“I would not rule out that in the short term inflation is going to increase further,” she said.
“But any estimate is currently subject to high uncertainty. So it’s very difficult to predict when inflation is going to peak.”
The EU figures came a day after Britain recorded its first double-digit inflation readings since the early 1980s.
This month appeared to be slowing in US price growth, with the next inflation reading due on 13 September.
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