(Kitco News) - The crypto market traded sideways for yet another day on Friday while the traditional market surged higher, providing crypto fans with a decoupling that was the opposite of what they were hoping for.
U.S. stocks rallied off the back of a bevy of corporate financial results and an increase in speculation that the Federal Reserve may start to take its foot off the rate hike gas pedal following its next 75 bps increase.
Odds makers indicated that the likelihood of a pullback in the pace of hiking spiked following comments from San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly. The Fed representative said the U.S. central bank should avoid pushing the economy into an “unforced downturn,” and that it was time to consider easing the pace of hikes.
Data from TradingView shows that following the comments from Daly, Bitcoin (BTC) managed to reverse course from the downward trend it was on in the early hours on Friday, climbing from a daily low of $18,688 back to support around $19,200.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The early morning dip below $18,700 prompted Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff to note that “bears have gained some mild momentum late this week, following a string of weaker price days.”
But bulls remain staunchly dedicated to defending support above $19,000, so “bears need to show more downside power soon to suggest a price downtrend can be restarted,” Wyckoff said.
As for why BTC price has remained so resilient to price dumps below $19,000, Caleb Franzen, senior market analyst at Cubic Analytics, posted the following tweet highlighting that this is the first time in Bitcoin’s history that its monthly price has closed below the 48-month moving average cloud.
Until this current bear market, #Bitcoin never had a monthly close below the 48-month moving average cloud. It's been near-perfect dynamic support.
— Caleb Franzen (@CalebFranzen) October 21, 2022
48-month EMA ??
48-month SMA ??
Unsurprisingly, this dynamic 4-year range has also been acting as resistance. Stay diligent. pic.twitter.com/lxmBn017Zc
While this area has provided an ample amount of support against further declines, it is also now acting as a stiff resistance to any moves to the upside, hence the sideways price action over the past few months.
Stocks rise as altcoins languish
The wider altcoin market saw a mix of results in trading on Friday, largely reflecting the aforementioned sideways trend, while stocks surged higher at the prospect of a decrease in the pace of rate hikes.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
At the close of markets, the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all finished in the green, up 2.37%, 2.47% and 2.31%, respectively.
Notable altcoin performances include a 20% gain for Quant (QNT), a 15.65% increase for Casper (CSPR), and a 12.51% gain for Phala Network (PHA).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $920 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 40.1%.
