Bitcoin Price Today: Crypto Stalls As Momentum Declines
Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies were on hiatus Tuesday, hovering at consolidated levels as the momentum behind this year’s big crypto rally dissipates.
The price of Bitcoin has fallen 0.3% over the past 24 hours to $23,111. The biggest digital asset has risen 40% since the start of the year, breaking two-year lows and trading at the highest levels since last summer – a trend that many crypto traders are betting spells the beginning of the end of a brutal bear market. But the momentum has largely faded in February, with Bitcoin failing to hold above the $24,000 level and consistently retreating to around $23,000.
“Bitcoin has seen its countertrend rally stall in response to short-term overbought conditions,” said Katie Stockton, managing partner at technical research group Fairlead Strategies. “We expect Bitcoin to pull back further to support our short-term bearish bias, noting that it has seen a significant loss of short-term upside momentum. Initial support is at the 200-day moving average, near $19,700.”
The recent rally in crypto comes alongside similar actions in the stock market, where
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500
has climbed this year as investor sentiment for risk-sensitive assets – such as digital assets and stocks – has improved. A correlation between asset classes means Bitcoin and its peers will be equally responsive to macroeconomic catalysts around inflation, interest rates and recession risk, with a series of comments from Federal Reserve officials ahead this week.
But there are other, technical factors supporting Bitcoin and reinforcing the case for a market looking beyond the “crypto winter,” as outlined by Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at fund manager VanEck, in a recent note.
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These include the fact that Bitcoin has never fallen in two consecutive calendar years – and the asset saw one of its worst years on record in 2022 – and that the current bear market has lasted more than 380 days, which is longer than average. November also saw “meaningful capitulation” by long-term holders — people who held Bitcoin for at least six months — Sigel noted, another sign that the bottom of the bear market may be over. At the same time, the Bitcoin leverage ratio has fallen sharply, Sigel said, suggesting caution on the part of market participants.
Additionally, there are trends in the global money supply that are also tailwinds for Bitcoin, which are highly correlated to M2 money supply growth, Sigel said. M2 growth recently hit 0% annualized for the first time, but the three-month rate of global money supply change now exceeds the 12-month change, which “historically is a very positive indicator of a Bitcoin bottom,” Sigel said. “Investors focusing only on the Fed may miss the improved global liquidity.”
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
— the second-largest crypto — gained less than 1% to $1,650. Smaller cryptos or altcoins were largely unchanged, with
Cardano
less than 1% lower
Polygon
increased 3%. Memecoins were slightly weaker, med
Dogecoin
down 1% and
Shiba Inu
waste close to 4%.
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Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
