Bitcoin price slips below $22,000 as traders remain risk-averse ahead of Jackson Hole
Editor’s Note: With so much market volatility, stay tuned for daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our quick summary of today’s must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here!
(Kitco News) – Thursday was another day of muted price action in the cryptocurrency market as the financial world’s attention remains fixed on tomorrow’s Jackson Hole Summit, with a majority of traders taking a risk-off approach until they find out the Fed’s next monetary policy decision.
Bitcoin bulls continue to have trouble challenging bearish resistance at $22,000, leading to an extended period of choppy price action in the $21,300-$21,850 range, according to data from TradingView.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Kitco senior market analyst Jim Wyckoff noted the reduced price action across the market in his morning Bitcoin brief and suggested that “bears have the slight overall technical advantage in the near term.”
According to Wyckoff, “The recent break has also produced a ‘volatility collapse’, suggesting that a larger price move is on the horizon. Market prices tend to move from periods of higher volatility to periods of lower volatility.”
A 5-day uptrend for Bitcoin
While the low volatility of the past few days has bored many traders in the area, market analyst Rekt Capital was quick to point out that Bitcoin has been on a technical uptrend for the past 5 days.
#BTC has not moved drastically to the upside
That being said, it has been in a technical uptrend for the last 5 days or so
As long as the technical uptrend continues like this, $BTC should be able to enjoy some acceleration to the upside#Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/ATB67L5fhs
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) 25 August 2022
Whether or not the uptrend can continue will likely depend on how markets react to comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
While many in society are emphasizing a “Fed pivot” narrative where rate hikes will be limited to below 0.25 basis points along with the reintroduction of quantitative easing, the central bank’s 2% inflation target suggests that any notions of a short-term dove pivot are pure fantasy .
Insight into what a collapse in prices resulting from hawkish comments out of the Jackson hole might look like was provided in the following tweet from cryptocurrency analyst il Capo of Crypto, indicating a possible pullback to $16,000 for BTC.
The power of the hammer. pic.twitter.com/ayxELfsBdz
— il Capo Of Crypto (@CryptoCapo_) 23 August 2022
For now, all the market can do is wait patiently for comments from Powell.
A snoozefest in the altcoin market
Thursday’s action in the altcoin market also reflected a holding pattern from traders who are content to wait on the sidelines until more favorable conditions arise.
Daily performance in the cryptocurrency market. Source: Coin360
Of the top 200 coins by market capitalization, the only results noted were a 13.06% gain for Decred (DCR), an 8.56% gain for Ultra (UOS) and an 8.54% gain for Theta Fuel (TFUEL ).
The total cryptocurrency market cap is now at $1.042 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 39.6%.
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.
