Bitcoin price downside momentum grows, BTC bulls wait to buy BTC under $63K level
- Bitcoin price has dropped almost 3% already with prospects for additional losses.
- Volume profile shows significant bearish activity between $68,000 and $64,806 range.
- $71 million longs have already been liquidated in past 24 hours as global crypto market cap shrinks to $2.41 trillion.
Bitcoin (BTC) price has done it again, selling off during the New York session. Over the past couple of weeks, most sell-offs have taken place during that time. It comes as a lot of activity takes place overhead, with the bears fundamentally overpowering the bulls.
Cryptocurrency prices FAQs
Token launches like Arbitrum’s ARB airdrop and Optimism OP influence demand and adoption among market participants. Listings on crypto exchanges deepen the liquidity for an asset and add new participants to an asset’s network. This is typically bullish for a digital asset.
A hack is an event in which an attacker captures a large volume of the asset from a DeFi bridge or hot wallet of an exchange or any other crypto platform via exploits, bugs or other methods. The exploiter then transfers these tokens out of the exchange platforms to ultimately sell or swap the assets for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Such events often involve an en masse panic triggering a sell-off in the affected assets.
Macroeconomic events like the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates influence risk assets like Bitcoin, mainly through the direct impact they have on the US Dollar. An increase in interest rate typically negatively influences Bitcoin and altcoin prices, and vice versa. If the US Dollar index declines, risk assets and associated leverage for trading gets cheaper, in turn driving crypto prices higher.
Halvings are typically considered bullish events as they slash the block reward in half for miners, constricting the supply of the asset. At consistent demand if the supply reduces, the asset’s price climbs. This has been observed in Bitcoin and Litecoin.
Daily digest market movers: Bulls wait to buy Bitcoin under $63K level
Bitcoin price has dropped by nearly 3% after the $67,500 level proved impenetrable for now. The rejection has seen up to $71.4 million in long positions liquidated across the market, alongside $32.25 million worth of shorts. Total liquidations are to the tune of $103.65 million as of Wednesday, 15:51 GMT.
Total liquidations
The whiplash has caused a 2% drop in global cryptocurrency market capitalization in 24 hours, now recorded at $2.41 trillion. One user on X, @invest_answers, ascribes the move to the work of market makers, saying they are hunting leveraged longs.
#Bitcoin market makers are hunting your levgd longs - heading to 65K or lower.... expect a nice V Shape recovery shortly pic.twitter.com/ty4aknnJJr
— InvestAnswers (@invest_answers) April 24, 2024
To some, this is a typical capital rotation in favor of altcoins following the halving. While a significant bull market peak is expected between 518 and 546 days after the halving, according to @rektcapital, the bullish sentiment inspired by the landmark event tends to bode well for altcoins.
#Altcoins are looking prime for an explosive rally after the recent correction.
— Mikybull Crypto (@MikybullCrypto) April 24, 2024
If you observe closely, Alts pullback happened in 2020 at a fib .618 level which coincidentally happened at the same level recently.
This year Alts cap is closely following the 2020-2021 price… pic.twitter.com/3wY4UCPR5s
Meanwhile, reports indicate that BTC and Ether spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are set to commence trading in Hong Kong, starting from April 30. It comes after an official approval to launch. Among them, the $230 billion Harvest Fund’s BTC ETF will begin trading on the same day with a 0% fee.
While this is a relatively small ETF market, it will be interesting to watch much younger capital ready for more risk. James Seyffart, ETF analyst from Bloomberg Intelligence, says that he anticipates a potential fee war in Hong Kong over these BTC and ETH ETFs.
A potential fee war could break out in Hong Kong over these #Bitcoin & #Ethereum ETFs. Harvest coming in hot with a full fee waiver and the lowest fee at 0.3% after waiver. Tables are from my colleagues @RebeccaSin_SK & @thetrinianalyst! pic.twitter.com/zI1XobrTwZ
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) April 24, 2024
Nevertheless, it is a bold move by China, not letting people self-custody their Bitcoin but allowing access in a regulated way via ETFs. There is speculation that Japan and South Korea could be next for ETF approvals.
Technical analysis: Extended sell-off expected if Bitcoin price drops below $62,300
Bitcoin price is sitting on support due to the 50-day Smooth Moving Average (SMMA) at $64,809, but this may not hold as a cloud of bearish activity hovers above the price. This is shown by the gray spikes seen on the volume profile relative to the yellow spikes on the right side of the chart.
The 12-hour chart shows that the area between $68,000 and $64,806 bears significant selling activity, which is weighing down on BTC price. The first area of support is expected between $61,579 and $63,090, with a break and close below its midline at $62,374 confirming a further downside. Bitcoin price could extend the fall to the $60,000 psychological level or lower.
The position of the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) in negative territory suggests a bearish trend. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is also dropping. If it records a lower high below the 50 mean level, it would solidify the trend reversal in Bitcoin price.
BTC/USDT 12-hour chart
On the other hand, a re-entry among the bulls could see the Bitcoin price recover. Confirmation of a move north will occur after the price forges past the area where the bears are populous. A decisive candlestick close above $70,000 on the 12-hour time frame would set the tone for Bitcoin price to reclaim its $73,777 all-time high.
In a highly bullish case, BTC could foray into the $74,000 range and record a new cycle top above this level.
Author
Lockridge Okoth
FXStreet
Lockridge is a believer in the transformative power of crypto and the blockchain industry.
