Bitcoin remained steady at $52,000 during the Wall Street opening on February 16, with the latest United States macro data surpassing expectations.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicated a lack of movement in BTC price leading into the final TradFi trading session of the week.
Following closely after the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release two days earlier, the Producer Price Index (PPI) figures for January added to concerns about inflation in the U.S.§§§
Year-on-year, PPI stood at 0.9%, slightly lower than the previous month but still 0.3% higher than market forecasts.
In combination with the high CPI, these results made markets more cautious about the possibility of the Federal Reserve adjusting fiscal policy this year.
According to data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, the likelihood of the Fed reducing interest rates at its March meeting was 8.5% at the time of reporting — less than half the 17.5% probability at the beginning of the week.
“A March interest rate cut is likely completely ruled out after this data,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter commented on X (formerly Twitter), echoing its response to CPI.
“Furthermore, a May rate cut has become questionable as well.”
Bitcoin reached $52,884 on Bitstamp the previous day, marking its highest level since late November 2021, but encountered resistance from sellers.
Analysing four-hour timeframes, popular trader Skew highlighted the importance of the 21-period exponential moving average (EMA), currently at approximately $51,000.
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“There’s been choppy price action here with a lot of inside bar closes essentially within the same intraday balance,” he observed.
U.S. spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced net inflows of nearly half a billion dollars on February 15.
This contributed to an impressive week where the ETF products gained renewed interest more than a month after their initial launch.
However, despite removing more BTC from circulation than adding to it daily, the ETFs have caused some concern among market observers.
In his latest analysis, Venturefounder, a contributor at on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, suggested that a slowdown in ETF interest could expose Bitcoin to a significant retracement.
“Bitcoin ETF net inflow flatline/normalize is where the next 20-30% correction will start,” part of X’s commentary stated alongside a summary of current flows.
A previous post outlined potential BTC price floor levels, with estimates extending down to $34,000.
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