Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $ 43,000 on February 17, marking another day in a series of difficult hopes for an impending outbreak.
Hourly candlestick chart BTC / USD (bit stamp). Source: Trading View
The Federal Reserve is furious at the rate hike
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC / USD trading in slightly wider territory with a peak of $ 44,500 in the last 24 hours.
The couple returned to the top of their daily range yesterday after comments from the US Federal Reserve.
The minutes of the FOMC meeting from the meeting at the end of January are, however, expected to provide clues about a potential interest rate increase, but in the end contain some surprises. The increase may occur in March, but no fixed commitments were made in this process.
“The committee aims to maximize employment and inflation to 2 percent in the long term,” the accompanying statement said.
In support of these goals, the committee decided to keep the target range for the federal fund rate at 0 percent to 1/4 percent. With inflation above 2 per cent and a strong labor market, the committee expects that it will soon be appropriate to raise the target area for federal funds interest rates. ”
FOMC added that it intends to completely complete the purchase of assets in March, in line with previous plans, with purchases in February expected to reach at least $ 30 billion.
As of Thursday, with little or no new news, the cryptocurrency markets were boring. But with the downscaling, there was still optimism about the strength of BTC’s price action over the past two weeks.
“My bias has changed a bit, and I’m better off pushing around 53k by mid-March,” said trader and analyst Pentoshi in his latest Twitter update.
Others also noticed the relatively strong price action this month compared to previous bitcoin episodes that retreated from all-time highs in November last year.
For example, after jumping around $ 33,000 in January, the capitulation event for miners, in which miners were forced to sell or stop mining altogether because the spot price of bitcoin is below cost, was averted.
As Cointelegraph reported, support levels have crept up in recent days as buyers bet that the potential fall will be less shallow than previously expected.
There is still tension in Russia over stocks and cryptocurrencies
Other macro signals for the day came in the form of new uncertainty surrounding the Russian-Ukrainian saga, as well as reports of hostilities that emerged overnight.
Related: Price analysis 2/16: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, SOL, AVAX, LUNA, DOGE, DOT
Stock futures are down at least 0.5% before Wall Street opens.
In the past, the US government has called allegations that Russia is trying to calm the situation on the border with Ukraine, which would otherwise stabilize nervous markets, “false”.
“The Russian government said yesterday that it is withdrawing its troops from the borders with Ukraine … Now we know this is not true,” a senior official told the Financial Times on Wednesday.
Bitcoin and altcoins are still strongly correlated with equities through 2022.
