The broader cryptocurrency market traded in a holding pattern on Thursday after the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data showed inflation rose 0.4% over last month and 3.7% over the prior year on a headline basis in September. Both measures came in slightly higher than the 0.3% month-over-month increase and a 3.6% annual increase expected by analysts.
Stocks trended into the red after the report was released as investors moved to minimize their exposure to risk in response to persistently sticky inflation that threatens to push the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates.
At the closing bell, the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq all finished lower, down 0.70%, 0.58%, and 0.73%, respectively.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) traded in a compressed range between $26,545 and $26,940 on Thursday, with neither bulls nor bears managing to gain the upper hand to control the price action.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
“October Bitcoin futures prices [were] up a bit in early U.S. trading Thursday after posting solid losses Wednesday,” said Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff.
Bitcoin futures 1-day chart. Source: Kitco
“The bears have gained some momentum this week, as prices have penetrated on the downside and negated an uptrend line on the daily bar chart,” Wyckoff said.
Crypto market analyst Benjamin Cowen agrees with this bearish outlook in the short term, warning his YouTube followers that Bitcoin has the potential to fall to $23,000.
“I do think that these lows [around $25,000] will be taken out,” Cowen said. “And when those lows are taken out, I think it’s going to be absolutely devastating for the altcoin market. Because the altcoin market has barely hung on to these valuations when Bitcoin has been fairly risky.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: YouTube
“I think there is a good chance here that this is already the topping pattern that Bitcoin is putting in,” he said. “And then the issue becomes that as liquidity dries up in the altcoin market and Bitcoin really starts to roll over, how far down can it go? I’ve said before that I think an initial target is likely $23,000.”
Cowen said that if Bitcoin performs similarly to how it did in 2019, “it would mean that over the next few days, you could see Bitcoin take out those lows.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: YouTube
Market analyst Rekt Capital agrees with this outlook and posted the following chart, saying, “The blue path is still very much possible as Bitcoin continues to experience a weak October.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Twitter
Mixed day in the altcoin market
A slight majority of the tokens in the top 200 traded in the red on Thursday, but broadly speaking, most coins traded within ±3% of yesterday’s prices.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Loom Network (LOOM) was the breakout token of the day with an increase of 35%, while Merit Circle (MC) gained 11.85%, and Threshold (T) climbed 10%. Request (REQ) was the biggest loser, with a decline of 16%, followed by a loss of 7.72% for Akash Network (AKT) and a decline of 7.27% for THORChain (RUNE).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.04 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 50%.
