The latest report from the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that the consumer price index (CPI) for April climbed by 0.3%. Over the last 12 months, the CPI increased by 3.4%, primarily driven by higher costs for shelter and gasoline. Relief Rally in Financial Markets as April CPI Data Shows Subdued Inflation […]
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US CPI Sees Slight Uptick in November, Fed Likely to Maintain High Rates
In November, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), a principal measure of inflation, registered a modest rise of 0.1%, maintaining a consistent annual increase of 3.1%. This minor growth in prices reflects subtle economic shifts, with energy costs witnessing a marked reduction, in contrast to the gradual rise in expenses for housing and food.
U.S. Inflation Rate Holds Steady: Minor CPI Rise Amid Falling Energy Costs
The data released on Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics highlighted a significant 2.3% fall in energy prices. This decline, led by a 6% drop in gasoline and a 2.7% fall in fuel oil prices, played a pivotal role in moderating the overall inflation rates. The latest inflation figures had a subdued effect on Wall Street, as major stock indexes exhibited little fluctuation in early trading. Similarly, the cryptocurrency markets and precious metals sectors remained largely unaffected.
“The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.1 percent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, after being unchanged in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today,” the inflation report notes. “Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.1 percent before seasonal adjustment.”
The Federal Reserve is likely to sustain its present interest rate stance, a decision significantly swayed by the recent CPI statistics. While some market forecasts indicate a pause in rate hikes, with potential reductions envisaged in the future, Fed analyst Jim Grant predicts persistently high rates, not foreseeing a reduction in the near term.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to convene on Dec. 13, 2023, with market anticipations currently not favoring a change in rates. There’s a 98.4% probability that the federal funds rate will stay constant, with only a slim 1.6% likelihood of an increase on Wednesday, according to the CME Fedwatch tool.
What do you think about the latest CPI report? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Dogecoin (DOGE) Makes Slight 6% Climb This Week – Here’s Why
Dogecoin (DOGE) price has experienced a slight upward movement, bringing hope to its supporters amidst a tumultuous period for the cryptocurrency market. Earlier today, the meme-inspired digital currency has risen by 6%.
This latest surge in Dogecoin price albeit small may be partially attributed to the continued support of billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has been a vocal advocate of the cryptocurrency in recent months.
Musk’s tweets have been known to have a significant impact on the market value of Dogecoin, and he has referred to it as “the people’s crypto.”
Some analysts believe that Musk’s endorsement of Dogecoin has helped to increase its mainstream popularity and appeal, leading to greater investment and adoption among both individual investors and institutional players alike.
Billionaire Sends Dogecoin Price Up
The meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin appears to have received a boost from a recent tweet by Musk.
In response to a user’s tweet about visiting the U.S. to watch SpaceX’s upcoming Starship launch, Musk replied: “Okay, but it will cost 3 Doge.”
Ok, but it will cost 3 Doge
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2023
Shortly after Musk’s tweet, the value of Dogecoin experienced a significant increase, with the price rising 6% to reach .0785 on an hourly chart. However, at the time of writing, the price has slightly dropped and is now trading at .076, via CoinMarketCap.
Fed Hike Sends Prices Sliding
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) followed through on their expected decision to raise interest rates by a quarter point on Wednesday evening, causing major cryptocurrencies to trade in negative territory.
DOGE saw a 2.63% decline in the last 24 hours, trading at .073, while Bitcoin (BTC) dipped below ,000 and Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.31% to sell below ,800.
A major driver of depositor flight is people moving money from low interest savings accounts to high interest money market (Treasury Bill) accounts.
This foolish rate hike will worsen depositor flight.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 22, 2023
In response to the rate hike, Musk wasted no time in criticizing the Federal Reserve’s decision, expressing concerns that it could prompt a mass exodus of depositors from banks and complicate efforts to manage the ongoing economic crisis, causing headaches for both policymakers and the banking industry.
“A major driver of depositor flight is people moving money from low-interest savings accounts to high-interest money market (Treasury Bill) accounts,” Musk tweeted. “This foolish rate hike will worsen depositor flight.”
The Federal Reserve’s move to raise its main interest rate underscores its unease with the ongoing inflationary pressures. In a statement, Fed Chair Jerome Powell emphasized the central bank’s determination to bring inflation back to its targeted 2% rate.
However, the Fed also recognized the potential fallout from the recent banking crisis, acknowledging that it could lead to stricter credit access for both consumers and businesses. As a result, the Fed anticipates that these factors could dampen economic growth, job creation, and inflation.
-Featured image from Instructables
Bitcoin Network Experiences Slight Dip in Difficulty After Record High
Bitcoin’s difficulty decreased 0.49% on Feb. 12, 2023, following a sustained all-time high of 39.35 trillion over the previous two weeks (2,016 blocks). The decrease in difficulty offers a brief respite for bitcoin miners, after the network recorded a 14.94% increase in the last month.
Bitcoin Difficulty Drops 0.49% Lower; Top Five Mining Pools Continue to Command Majority of Global Hashrate
At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s hashrate is coasting along at 289.14 exahash per second (EH/s) after a 0.49% decrease in difficulty at block height 776,160. The network difficulty has been operating at approximately 39,350,942,467,772 hashes for the past 2,016 blocks, or two weeks. With the recent 0.49% decrease in difficulty, the network’s difficulty will now be set at 39.16 trillion hashes for the next two weeks.
Since the latest difficulty change, block times — the intervals between mined blocks — have been 10 minutes, 7 seconds to roughly 11 minutes, 14 seconds in length. Bitcoin’s next difficulty retarget is scheduled for around Feb. 26, 2023. The average hashrate over the last 2,016 blocks was approximately 280.6 exahash per second (EH/s), and the average block time for those blocks was 10 minutes, 2 seconds.
During the past three days, Foundry USA has been the top mining pool with 33.26% of the global hashrate, or approximately 95.89 exahash per second (EH/s) of hashpower. Foundry is followed by Antpool with 15.97% of the global hashrate and Binance Pool with 15.54% of computational power. F2pool (14.22%) and Viabtc (9.41%) are next, respectively. There are approximately 12 known mining pools today, and the top five control 88.4% of the global hashrate.
According to macromicro.me statistics, the cost of producing bitcoin (BTC) remains higher than its current spot market value. Macromicro.me calculates its estimates based on data on electricity consumption and daily bitcoin issuance provided by Cambridge University. Currently, the average cost of mining a single bitcoin is around ,119, while its spot market value is approximately ,901 per unit.
What impact will the recent decrease in difficulty have on the future of Bitcoin mining and the distribution of hashpower among mining pools over the next two weeks? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Bitcoin Bear Market Back Or Slight Correction? Here’s What’s Going On
Yesterday’s news that one of the largest US exchanges Kraken will have to pay a million fine to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and shut down its crypto-staking product for US customers has caused a lot of uncertainty, including in the Bitcoin market.
In recent days, it has become increasingly apparent that U.S. authorities are pursuing a strict agenda against crypto companies in the wake of the FTX collapse. In particular, the US authorities’ efforts are targeting the banking sector, which provides the on- and off-ramp for exchanges, and stablecoins.
Therefore, even though crypto-staking has nothing to do with Bitcoin at first glance, there is concern that centralized exchanges in the U.S. are facing major challenges that may also affect the Bitcoin market.
In this respect, it is not surprising that the Bitcoin price has lost support at ,370. The support level had been tested five times since January 23. Yesterday’s news could not be absorbed by the Bitcoin bulls.
For the moment, BTC reached a low of ,633, where the next region of support can be found at ,600 to ,500. If the support also breaks, the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA) could provide the most important support, which is currently at ,383.
Bitcoin Bears Or Bulls Taking Over?
The good news is that the daily RSI is completely set back to neutral with 47, after it topped in mid-January at 87. On the other hand, the spot orderbook of the largest spot exchange, Binance, is also displaying a strong support between ,400 and ,600 as buy walls have formed in this range.
$BTC Binance spot orderbook.
Look at those buy walls at 21.4k – 21.6k, will be watching them closely. #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/UCK97jeI2U
— exitpump (@exitpumpBTC) February 9, 2023
As long as the area above the 200-day EMA is defended by the bulls, the current price trend can be dismissed as a healthy correction. The uptrend remains intact.
However, if BTC falls below the 200-day EMA, this could be seen as a failed attempt by the Bitcoin bulls to establish a trend change. In addition, it can be interpreted as bearish for Bitcoin because the price (presumably) fails to establish a new high for the moment in the weekly chart.
Analyst Rekt Capital shared the following 1-week chart of BTC and states:
BTC performs yet another fake-breakout by failing to retest the ~,400 level as support. In the process, BTC has formed a new Lower High resistance.
Meanwhile, from an on-chain perspective, Bitcoin momentum is shifting into positive territory. The adjusted output profit ratio (aSOPR) is breaking out and holding above 1.0, showing that the market has realized gains on the chain for the first time since April 2022, as explained by analyst James Straten.
This is also confirmed by the realized P/L ratio on the gains. The market is now realizing a greater proportion of gains in USD than losses. Sellers with an unrealized loss are exhausted and generally adjust to a healthier inflow of demand.
Polkadot At $9.30, But Is There A Chance Of Slight Shift In Trend?
Polkadot has been noting fall in price over the past few days. Although the coin has been laterally trading, there has been continuous dips in the price. Over the last 24 hours, DOT fell by 4.2% and in the last week the coin brought home minor gains.
Broader market weakness can be attributed to most altcoins either trading sideways or moving downtrend. The coin broke below its crucial support of and ever since that Polkadot has been moving south.
Buying strength also automatically faded from the market as the bears took over the price action. Despite the bears strengthening, DOT continued to attempt moving on the upside but the coin was met with selling pressure each time.
The bulls just need to push the price a little above the .60 mark after which the buyers could attempt to re-enter the market. This could bring in some relief to the altcoin’s price.
Polkadot Price Analysis: One Day Chart
Polkadot was priced at .30 on the one day chart | Source: DOTUSD on TradingView
DOT was trading at .30 on the one day chart. Polkadot was mostly consolidating but was trying to break past the same every now and then. Bears have gotten stronger as buying strength has fallen. A fall below the .30 price mark will cause the coin to rest on the .71 support line.
This would mean DOT would touch the price level of August, 2021 again. Overhead resistance for the coin stood at and a push above the same will make the altcoin trade near the .87 price mark.
The volume of the coin traded had fallen and was seen in red. This indicated that the bulls had weakened at press time.
Technical Analysis
Polkadot registered fall in buying strength on the one day chart | Source: DOTUSD on TradingView
DOT noted a consistent increase in buying strength as seen on the Relative Strength Index. There has been an uptrend on the RSI. At press time, the coin displayed fall in buying strength as the indicator captured a downtick signifying increase in selling pressure.
In regards to DOT registering a shift in price action, the price pf the asset was seen slightly above the 20-SMA line. This meant that buyers were slowly gathering momentum and that the sellers might not continue to drive the price momentum in the market.
Related Reading | Polkadot Surged Over 4%, What Are The Technicals Indicating?
Polkadot flashed a buy signal on the one day chart | Source: DOTUSD on TradingView
DOT flashed a buy signal which amounts to the coin displaying a possible change in the price action. Moving Average Convergence Divergence depicts the price momentum, and it indicated bullishness. MACD portrayed green signal bars which are tied to a buy signal.
Bollinger Bands that indicate price volatility showed narrowing of the bands. If the bands become narrowed it means that price volatility is about to drop.
A drop in the same means lesser price fluctuations. DOT can try to rise above the given immediate resistance if the buying strength increases in the market over the immediate trading sessions.
Related Reading | Bitcoin NUL Suggests More Downside To Come Before The Bottom
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