Bitcoin had a free fall to the $16,000 level, seeing a dip of 4.17% in the last 24 hours as the bears halted the topmost cryptocurrency’s uptrend. The crypto market saw mid-week rally on a positive Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. However, the next day the cryptocurrencies retraced the majority of the gains after the US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell turned hawkish about the post-rate-hike.
The crypto market was affected by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consensus that rates would need to reach the 5% – 5.5%+ range to achieve the Fed’s 2% inflation target. Traders had their hopes set up high on a Fed policy pivot taking place in the first quarter of 2023. As such, the negative sentiment was felt throughout the crypto and equities markets.
At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin was trading at $16,749. Ether lost 7.24% of its value in the last 24 hours, as per data from CoinMarketCap, and was holding at $1,182. The broader crypto market was splashed in red. Cardano and Solana were the biggest losers, down by 11.44% and 11.42% respectively. Litecoin lost nearly 11% of its value, Polkadot lost 10.56%, Dogecoin 9.77%, Polygon 8.45%, Shiba Inu 7.70%, and Uniswap 7.25%. There have been significant losses as market optimism and price spike was short-term.
Bitcoin’s Relative Strength Index fell near 40. This reflects that BTC momentum is neutral at the moment. On Friday, Bitcoin was trading at $17,250 which was extended by a 50-day moving average. But increased negative pressure prompted a bearish crossover below the crucial $17,000 mark.
