Bitcoin price risks $23,000 again as Coinbase stock falls over Silvergate
Bitcoin (BTC) erased early-month gains on March 2 as fresh market uncertainty erupted over the solvency of cryptobank Silvergate.
BTC price avoids Silvergate, Coinbase stock drop
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $23,206 on Bitstamp, down around 1.5% on the day.
The pair came under pressure as rumors swirled about the fate of Silvergate, which lost US exchange Coinbase as a client in a decision the latter said came out of “an abundance of caution.”
Silvergate had suffered as a result of the FTX implosion, delaying its 10-K report this week and warning that it could be “less than well capitalized.”
Shares in parent company Silvergate Capital were down 40% on the day at the time of writing.
Coinbase also felt the pressure, with Coinbase Global (COIN) shares losing 9.65%, while BTC price action itself avoided major losses.
“Silvergate could potentially go bankrupt, pushing prices down a bit more. On the other hand; people piling into positions since the news and no real movement on Bitcoin,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight , reacted.
“This could be an assumption that people are heavily skewed to the short side here. Time for a hug.”
Popular trader and analyst Stack Hodler took a similar view, suggesting that current events should not form a reflection on Bitcoin itself.
“Coinbase, Silvergate, Bank of America and the Federal Reserve could all implode overnight and it won’t change the number of Sats I keep in cold storage,” he told Twitter followers.
“The beauty of holding #Bitcoin without counterparty risk.”
Focusing on immediate price performance, however, others were in risk-off mode, looking for a retracement of higher levels before considering long positions.
“Finding resistance in a logical place – still think a visit to the ltf support (green line) makes the most sense on low time frames before deciding which direction to go,” a slightly more bullish Credible Crypto forecast next to a chart with target areas.
“I will also add that until/unless we break the lows of $21,373, I am leaning bullish (green lane).”
Inflation reports disappointingly for risk assets
Another point of concern came from macroeconomic data on the day, showing that inflation remains more persistent than central banks had hoped for.
Related: 3 BTC Price Hurdles Bitcoin Bulls Can’t Clear in 2023
Both the United States and The European Union produced unpleasant reports, with the former showing that unemployment did not warm up.
“Initial jobless claims and continued jobless claims came in cooler than expected,” Keith Alan, co-founder of monitoring resource material indicators, in summaryand argues that the Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell may now have an additional incentive to keep interest rates up – an important headwind for crypto and risk assets.
“This is the exact opposite of what the FED wants to see to tame inflation. IMO, this is going to strengthen JPow’s willingness to go higher for longer. Remember, Higher and Longer are both on a sliding scale.”
According to the CME Group FedWatch toolthe bet on a larger interest rate increase in March than in February was 32% after the data on unemployment claims.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
