Bitcoin has support at $16.5,000 as the Fed signals a slowdown in interest rate hikes
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(Kitco News) – Crypto prices rallied on Wednesday after the release of minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting showed that the Fed is seriously considering slowing the pace of rate hikes.
The traditional markets similarly benefited from the signaled decline, with prices across the major indexes closing higher on the last full trading day of the US holiday week. % and 0.99%, respectively.
Data from TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) bulls staged a rally in the early hours on Wednesday and managed to push it to a high of $16,682 before settling into consolidation mode around support at $16,500.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff noted the early morning rally for BTC, suggesting that enterprising traders were “hunting for bargains after prices fell to a two-year low on Monday.”
But bulls shouldn’t be celebrating just yet, Wyckoff warned, as “bears still have the firm overall technical advantage in the near term, meaning the path of least resistance for prices is sideways to lower in the near term.”
Current events cause a disconnection
The events of 2022, including the ongoing implosion of FTX, have weighed heavily on BTC and the broader crypto market. According to Mikkel Morch, chairman of ARK36, the FTX scandal resulted in Bitcoin adopting an “uncorrelated relationship with other risk assets (Nasdaq, S&P 500, etc.) and correlated with the USD.”
Had the FTX collapse not happened, “Bitcoin would have risen along with the indices over the last couple of days,” Morch said.
From here, Morch suggested that “Bitcoin appears to be creating a double bottom” on the daily chart, which is a bullish pattern. But the CEO warned that it won’t be a quick and easy trip higher as several resistance levels have been established in recent months.
“There is a lot of resistance on the way up and will likely see a push up to $17,500 – $18,500, followed by another dropdown,” he said. “If $18,500 holds as support, $19,500 – $20,000 is the next resistance to be tested.”
This outlook was confirmed by market analyst Michaël van de Poppe, who posted the following tweet highlighting a possible run-up to the $17,500 – $18,000 region once the $16,550 resistance is overcome.
And that is the decisive resistance for #Bitcoin.
Probably a bit more consolidation, but once it breaks this region, I expect a quick candle towards $17.5-18K. pic.twitter.com/JNEyveYi5v
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) 23 November 2022
Altcoins rise higher
The altcoin market reacted positively to today’s developments as only a handful of tokens in the top 200 were in the red for the day.
Daily performance in the cryptocurrency market. Source: Coin360
The best performers of the day were seen in Nano (XNO), which rose 79.34%, followed by a 30.29% increase in price for Chrono.tech (TIME) and an 18.88% gain for Solana (SOL).
The total cryptocurrency market cap is now $829 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 38.4%.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect the views of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an invitation to exchange goods, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept responsibility for any loss and/or damage arising from the use of this publication.
