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Bitcoin keeps heading higher as BTC price strength flies in the face of a hawkish Fed, but concerns over a retracement are building.
Bitcoin (BTC) passed $29,500 on Oct. 20 after an eventful 24 hours boosted BTC price trajectory, while XRP’s (XRP) price jumped above $0.50 in response to Ripple’s big legal win.
BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Hawkish Fed’s Powell fails to dent BTC price
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it edged closer to two-month highs from the start of the week.
The largest cryptocurrency appeared to feed off events surrounding a speech from Jerome Powell, chair of the United States Federal Reserve, the day prior.
Amid a U.S. bond rout, Powell was under pressure to deliver appropriate wording, and analysis even predicted a “very dovish” tone would dominate. In the event, the speech, which was briefly interrupted by protesters, saw Powell as highly conservative on the outlook.
“The stance of policy is restrictive, meaning that tight policy is putting downward pressure on economic activity and inflation,” he said about interest rate hikes.
“Given the fast pace of the tightening, there may still be meaningful tightening in the pipeline.”
Powell said that the Fed acknowledged the potential problems of hiking rates too far.
“Doing too little could allow above-target inflation to become entrenched and ultimately require monetary policy to wring more persistent inflation from the economy at a high cost to employment. Doing too much could also do unnecessary harm to the economy,” he continued.
“Given the uncertainties and risks, and how far we have come, the Committee is proceeding carefully.”
Data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed changing tides among market expectations when it comes to future rate decisions.
At its next meeting on Nov. 1, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is now unanimously thought to hold rates at their current levels, per data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. Before Powell, the odds stood at 88%.
Fed target rate probabilities chart. Source: CME Group
Following the speech, news broke that U.S. regulators had dropped criminal charges against executives of blockchain firm Ripple.
XRP’s price responded immediately, trading up over 6% in 24 hours at the time of writing.
XRP/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Trader suggests Bitcoin “impulse” is here
Amid a backdrop of increasing anticipation over the approval of a U.S. Bitcoin spot price exchange-traded fund (ETF), Bitcoin gained momentum overnight.
Related: Bitcoin metrics ‘improve bullish odds’ as BTC price holds 200-week trendline
At the time of writing, the day’s highs stood at $29,689 — just $200 from the top of a snap volatility wick seen on Oct. 17.
$BTC has launched.
Keeping it as simple as it can get:
The same way 26.8k was the origin of our last impulse, 28.6k is now the origin of the current one. Above that, we are going A LOT higher, FAST.
Drop below 28.6k and the local uptrend will be violated and we may get a bit… https://t.co/odakQpZbTL pic.twitter.com/CbhLBo133G— CrediBULL Crypto (@CredibleCrypto) October 20, 2023
“Bitcoin filling the wick, slowly but surely. Let’s go for that $30k tap,” popular trader Jelle wrote in part of an X analysis on the day, having previously argued that Bitcoin looked “eager to fill” the Oct. 17 wick.
“Today it’s going a very interesting day for trading... They have hit exactly $29400 where there were many liquidations,” fellow trader CrypNuevo continued.
In various X posts, CrypNuevo uploaded liquidation data from the past days, warning that long positions outnumbered shorts four to one. Bitcoin, he suggested, could retrace during the U.S. trading session.
$BTC
Liquidation levels and liquidation heatmaps.
Quick thoughts:
- All our liquidation levels to the upside from yesterday have been hit.
- Delta long liquidations at $15B (mid-high amount and enough to consider a retrace is coming soon).
- Current long-short open positions… pic.twitter.com/dAqbRbaimc— CrypNuevo (@CrypNuevo) October 20, 2023
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.