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Bitcoin holds above $17K as U.S. jobs data comes in stronger than expected
(Kitco News) - It was a relatively quiet day across financial markets as investors digested stronger-than-expected jobs data which led them to reevaluate their expectations around when the Federal Reserve will pause its rate-hiking campaign.
As a result of the surprise jobs data, traditional markets oscillated between small gains and slight losses on Friday, with the S&P and Nasdaq closing the day in the red, down 0.12% and 0.18% respectively, while the Dow saw a slight gain of 0.10%.
Data from TradingView shows a similar story for Bitcoin (BTC), which traded as high as $17,122 and as low as $16,798, only to settle near at $17,040 at the time of writing, marking a gain of 0.87% on the day.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The relative calm witnessed in the market was touched on by senior Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff in his morning Bitcoin update when he highlighted that “Bitcoin-U.S. dollar prices are near steady on a routine pause late this week after posting solid gains and hitting a three-week high on Wednesday.”
Moving forward, “Bulls have the slight near-term technical advantage,” according to Wyckoff, following this week's price action which “saw a bullish upside “breakout” on the daily chart to suggest a market bottom is in place and that prices can now move still higher in the near term.”
A survey of crypto Twitter shows that many traders in the market viewed Friday’s price action as “boring,” which was a welcomed sight for some following the volatility witnessed in November.
Boring markets, but #Bitcoin is consolidating nicely here and the game still stands.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) December 2, 2022
According to independent market analyst Crypto Tony, Bitcoin remains stuck below resistance at $17,200. If it manages to overcome bearish defenses at that price level, the next major resistance that Bitcoin will face is near $18,200.
$BTC / $USD - Update
— Crypto Tony (@CryptoTony__) December 2, 2022
Still rejecting from the mid range, which we need to flip for continuation to the range high and above .. I remain in my long scalp?? pic.twitter.com/jKK4E8Q6eC
The interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve may have begun to have an effect according to analysts at CoinDCX, who suggested that “Positive reports on both the CPI and PPI meant that the FED’s aggressive hawkish monetary policy showcased throughout this year was finally making tangible progress in controlling inflation.” This has given “markets hope and some breathing room as the Dollar Strength Index (DXY) continues to decline, which led to the uptick in broader markets.”
CoinDCX also noted a potentially bullish catalyst for Bitcoin, which has “reached 64% of the way through the current halving cycle.” This has “historically marked a larger macro upturn for Bitcoin in the previous cycles,” that analysts said.
“These regions have previously been an attractive time to accumulate bitcoin with mining metrics and other on-chain indicators currently flashing signs of being oversold and subsequently undervalued market conditions,” CoinDCX concluded.
Double-digit gains in the altcoin market
The price action for most of the altcoin market was likewise flat, save for a few notable exceptions that managed to post double-digit gains for the day.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
That includes a 64.58% gain for Revain (REV), a 38.82% increase for Acala Token (ACA), and a 12.82% gain for GMX (GMX).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $859 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 38.1%.
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