Bitcoin Slides for Second Day as Analyst Warns of Dip Below $45K

Don’t miss CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022, the must-attend crypto & blockchain festival experience of the year in Austin, TX this June 9-12.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell for a second day in a row, retreating after its price passed $48,000 earlier this week.

The bitcoin was trading at $45,945 as of press time, down 2.5% on the day. The latest price drop followed an eight-day winning streak that had brought bitcoin to a break-even point for the year, recovering from this year’s abysmal start.

  • “Bullish bitcoin momentum has definitely run out of steam, and the persistent geopolitical risk will likely cap the recent rally,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at Oanda. “Bitcoin seems poised to consolidate here and could be vulnerable to a drop towards the $44,500 level.”

  • Although bitcoin adoption is improving and interest is growing, it takes time to drive steady long-term flows, Moya said. “The path higher will be a slower grind higher for bitcoin as many traders will also focus on the other coins that are earlier in their growth stage,” he said.

  • According to Jason Deane, chief bitcoin analyst at Quantum Economics, this consolidation is positive for the market because it builds a new base for investors to “make further price discovery.”

  • On Tuesday, a unit of MicroStrategy, a software company holds a large amount of bitcoin in its treasury, said it obtained a $205 million loan collateralized by bitcoin.

  • Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), a nonprofit that supports decentralized networks, also resumed buying bitcoin. It announced a $272 million purchase on Wednesday.

  • European Union lawmakers voted Thursday in favor of controversial measures to outlaw anonymous crypto transactions, a move the industry said would stifle innovation and invade privacy.

  • The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE), showed annual inflation rose 6.4% in February, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. The February pace was the highest since 1982.

  • The S&P 500 was down 0.5% on Thursday. It has been on a four-day winning streak. The fall was likely due to investors’ conservative attitude as they monitor progress in discussions between Russia and Ukraine and mixed U.S. economic data.

  • The Wall Street Journal reported that the bond market is suffering its worst quarter in the past 40 years.

  • The West Texas Intermediate crude oil price plummeted late Wednesday and was down 5.9% on Thursday. President Joe Biden announced the largest-ever release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help ease high gas prices at the pump.

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-slides-second-day-analyst-193744455.html