(Kitco News) - Global asset prices faced their second straight day of losses on Friday as negative news about the U.S. economy continues to emerge, pushing investors to derisk further and wait for more appealing market conditions.
The S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all closed the day lower, down 1.11%, 0.85%, and 0.97%, respectively, resulting in the second straight weekly loss for the U.S. stock market.
Data from TradinView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) price underwent a sell-off around the time that markets in the U.S. opened, plunging from support at $17,400 to a daily low of $16,750 in the afternoon before bulls bid its price back above $16,800.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Despite the spike in volatility, little has changed in the macro picture for Bitcoin at this point as it still trades within the range it has been trapped in since early November. Kitco's senior technical analyst referred to the morning dip as “a routine downside correction late this week after hitting a five-week high Wednesday.”
According to Wyckoff, “Prices are still in an uptrend on the daily chart,” and “Bulls still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage.”
Crypto Twitter turns bearish
As a result of Bitcoin’s struggles over the past couple of days, the mood on crypto Twitter has flipped bearish, with many now speculating on the possibility of a drawdown to the lower support levels at $15,600 and $14,600.
#Bitcoin
— ????????????????? ?? (@el_crypto_prof) December 16, 2022
This scenario has worked well in recent weeks.
We have "almost" reached the 0.5 Fib line.
What comes after that?
IF $BTC can't hold $17.000, get ready for $15.600 or even $14.600.
It is what it is, but see it as a chance to buy incredibly cheap. pic.twitter.com/jPV5WmDjOl
But not everyone has adopted a negative perspective, including crypto trader StanTrader, who posted the following tweet highlighting a potential “swing long” play for BTC.
Swing long $BTC
— StanTrader (@Stanley_Trader) December 16, 2022
Let's see how it goes pic.twitter.com/CSEb5Tk1eb
Altcoins see heavy losses
Altcoins largely followed Bitcoin's lead lower, with less than 10 non-stablecoin tokens in the top 200 seeing gains on the day while the rest experienced losses.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
The best performers on the day include Toncoin (TON), Magic (MAGIC) and Request (REQ), which gained 5.74%, 4.31%, and 3.31%, respectively. The biggest losers on the day were ABBC Coin (ABBC), Energy Web Token (EWT), and TrustWallet Token (TWT), which lost 12.04%, 9.96% and 9.83%, respectively.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $822 billion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 39.6%.
