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Bitcoin pulls back to support at $16,200 as unrest in China rattles global markets

Jordan Finneseth

Kitco News

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(Kitco News) - The cryptocurrency and traditional finance markets fell under pressure on Monday as global sentiment is being weighed down by growing unrest in China over the nation’s restrictive zero-Covid policy, which finally pushed citizens to their breaking point on Saturday.

Coming off the long holiday weekend in the U.S., the major market indices trended down throughout the trading day, with the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all closing in the red, notching losses of 1.54%, 1.45% and 1.58%, respectively.

Data from TradingView shows that despite crypto trading being banned in China, Bitcoin (BTC) was not immune to the pressures exerted on traditional financial markets. The top crypto fell under pressure in the early trading hours on Monday and hit a daily low of $15,993 near midday before bulls bid its price back above $16,200.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The early morning move lower was discussed by senior Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff in his morning Bitcoin brief, with the analyst noting that “While the BC bulls have stabilized prices since they hit a two-year low last week, the bulls are disappointed BC prices have not seen safe-haven demand amid the China civil unrest over the weekend.”

As a result of the continued weakness brought about by the unrest in China, “BC bears have the overall near-term technical advantage,” Wyckoff warned, while also offering some hope to the crypto faithful by noting that “the recent sideways price action very slightly favors the bulls.”

Sideways until the new year

The weakness seen in Bitcoin over the past two doesn’t bode well for an end-of-the-year rally that many are expecting, according to crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe, who posted the following tweet highlighting the inability for BTC to breakout above $16,800.

A failure to hold support here at $16,200 could lead to further downside, according to Poppe.

Insight into what that downside might look like was provided by cryptocurrency analyst Rekt Capital, who posted the following tweet suggesting that the new trading range for Bitcoin is likely to be between $13,500 and $19,500 for the foreseeable future.

A few altcoin standouts in a sea of red

While the majority of markets struggled on Monday, there were several crypto projects that managed to buck the trend to post modest gains for the day.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

The top gainers include a 9.19% increase for Braintrust (BTRST), an 8.49% gain for ApeCoin (APE), and a 6.52% gain for Vulcan Forged PYR (PYR).

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $821 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 38%.

By Jordan Finneseth

For Kitco News

Contact jfinneseth@kitco.com
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.