Bitcoin price is back above $17,000 after dovish comments from Fed Chair Powell

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(Kitco News) – Global financial markets got a boost from Fed Chair Powell on Wednesday after the central banker laid the groundwork for a 50 basis point rate hike at the Fed’s December policy meeting – citing the need to “moderate” the pace of rate hikes.

That dovish note helped spark a rally across financial markets that sent the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq soaring after a stagnant morning of trading, with the major indexes ending the day up 3.09%, 2.18% and 4, respectively. 41%.

Data from TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) also benefited from the dovish comments from Powell that helped bulls lift the top crypto from a daily low of $16,696 to an intraday high of $17,158, a 2.69% turnaround.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The positive outlook for BTC was spotted early in the day by Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who noted that the Bitcoin-US dollar price “hit a three-week high in early US trading on Wednesday.”

“BC bulls have stabilized prices and even gained some momentum with Wednesday’s rally,” Wyckoff said, but cautioned that “BC bears still have the small overall technical advantage in the near term.” However, the landscape is changing and “the recent sideways price action on the daily chart favors the bulls, to begin to suggest that a near-term market bottom is in place,” he concluded.

However, many on crypto Twitter remain unconvinced that the bottom is in, and advise extreme caution going forward.

I mean personally if we’ve bottomed out on the macro, great ♥️

But I don’t want to tweet that the bottom is in for more followers until at least:

– The market structure is bullish
– Clear demand comes in via spot purchases and volume
– Bullish OBV 9On balance volume)

Until then TAKE IT

— Crypto Tony (@CryptoTony__) 30 November 2022

BTC needs to reclaim $19,000 to confirm a bullish rally

Additional insight into the state of the market following Powell’s speech was offered by Hunain Naseer, COIN360’s Chief Content Officer.

Naseer noted that both crypto and traditional markets “responded positively to Powell’s speech” despite many predicting a bigger pivot following an improvement in the consumer price index print earlier in November.

“While the much-anticipated ‘pivot’ did not quite materialize, the Fed chair hinted toward a more cautious approach to ensure the labor market remains healthy,” Naseer said. “It also appears that future rate hikes may be smaller, but drawn out over a longer period of time, with the aim of achieving a ‘soft landing.’

Naseer went on to highlight that after the speech, BTC rose above $17,000 while Ether tested resistance at $1,300 and SPX climbed above 4,000, but issued a warning to overzealous traders looking to dive back into the markets.

“Market participants may want to wait until mid-December to see how the Senate and House hearings on the FTX collapse play out and whether the Fed stays true to the shift announced today come FOMC time,” he warned.

“From a technical perspective, Bitcoin needs to regain June lows and trade above $19,000 before the market can start hoping for a bullish rally,” he concluded.

Altcoins are trending higher

The bullish development in Bitcoin was largely mirrored in the altcoin market, with most tokens in the top 200 posting positive gains for the day.

Daily performance in the cryptocurrency market. Source: Coin360

The biggest gains of the day included a 22.75% increase for Icon (ICX), an 18.53% gain for Kyber Network Crystal v2 (KNC), and a 15.75 gain for Fantom (FTM).

The total cryptocurrency market cap is now $861 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 38.1%.