Bitcoin (BTC) remained lower at the Wall Street open on February 24 as US macroeconomic data showed that inflation was easing.
PCE raises new doubts about inflation
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed by BTC/USD as it traded in a narrowing band around $23,800.
The pair had seen an attempt to recover $24,500 the day before, but that ultimately proved unsuccessful as resistance kept gains under control.
However, Bitcoin saw only a muted reaction to the latest print of the US Personal Consumer Expenditure (PCE) index, which, with a forecast of 4.7% versus 4.3%, suggested that inflation is not falling as quickly as hoped.
For popular Tedtalksmacro commentator, this was the reason the Federal Reserve considered a bigger hike in interest rates at its March meeting – a potential headwind for risk assets including cryptocurrencies.
“There is speculation of 50 bps coming in March,” he said he argued as part of the reaction on Twitter.
Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe focused on BTC/USD itself, while remaining bullish on the near-term outlook.
“Markets are still having a regular uptrend correction,” he said he wrote next to the chart with significant levels highlighted.
“As long as Bitcoin stays above $22,000, that will be enough to expect a continuation towards $25,000+.”
Monitoring of resource material indicators showed resistance on Binance’s order book hovered above the spot price, with mostly support at $23,000.
In addition, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital showed that BTC/USD was trying to maintain a trend line that recently flipped to support on the intraday time frames.
“3rd consecutive retest yet to take place but BTC still holding above lower high resistance,” he said he tweeted.
“If this price stability continues here, it could be argued that price is decelerating on the sell side against this new lower high support.”
US dollar challenges high in 2023
U.S. stocks fell more sharply on the PCE press, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite down 1.4% and 1.7% at the time of writing, respectively.
Related: Bitcoin Must Use $1,000 Central Bank Liquidity To Beat Sellers – Research
The US dollar index (DXY) had welcome support, climbing to 105.3 on the day, its highest since January 6.
DXY weakness characterized much of January’s crypto comeback, which reversed in February in line with the increased difficulty faced by Bitcoin bulls looking to hold on to gains of more than 50%.
“The US dollar index DXY is moving further into the 200-day cloud moving average,” Caleb Franzen, senior market analyst at Cubic Analytics, he wrote in the summary section on Twitter.
Franzen added that DXY “may see more upside in this range, but the entire range is potential resistance.”
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
