U.S. market open surprises combine with a weakening dollar to produce confusing conditions for hodlers.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell into the Wall Street open on April 29 as United States markets opened to volatility, including an 11% drop in Amazon stock.
BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
All change at the Fed
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed BTC/USD dipping to $38,622 on Bitstamp Friday.
Despite a let-up in the U.S. dollar’s relentless bull run, Bitcoin showed little signs of strength as it remained firmly under $40,000.
Macro factors remained against the largest cryptocurrency along with risk assets more broadly, commentators noted, as the Federal Reserve reduced its balance sheet.
The start of #Fed deleveraging? Fed balance sheet has shrunk for the 2nd consecutive week. Total assets now at $8,939bn, equal to 36.6% of US’ GDP vs ECB’s 82% or BoJ’s 137%. pic.twitter.com/0GRR5VgGIe
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) April 29, 2022
For Amazon, meanwhile, the pain was immediately obvious as missed earnings targets resulted in AMZN’s biggest intraday loss in eight years.
The S&P 500 traded down 1% at the time of writing, while the Nasdaq 100 was down 0.9%.
Focusing on Bitcoin, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital argued that the relative strength index (RSI) may need to form a higher low and rebound in order to provide the market with the fuel for a breakout on short timeframes.
#BTC ultimately rejects at this resistance
Now pulling back
Could $BTC find a base and then rebound once the RSI Higher Low has been revisited?#Crypto #Bitcoin https://t.co/nneXL2BrKe pic.twitter.com/AKMzmmdGds
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) April 29, 2022
Whales flip to bear market bottom buying
In its latest chart update on whale behavior, meanwhile, data from on-chain analysis platform Whalemap showed that buying behavior is echoing the bear market bottom of late 2018.
Related: Bitcoin set for volatile monthly close after BTC price ‘checks all boxes’ for major move
According to its data, whales with balances of between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC are busy accumulating BTC to the extent that they were when BTC/USD hit $3,100 in December that year. The volumes even outdo those from the $3,600 crash in March 2020.
“Whales are accumulating as much Bitcoin today as they were at the $3K lows,” analyst and indicator creator Charles Edwards commented.
“These are holders with approx. $40M – $400M in their wallets today. In 2018, that was $4M – 40M (but there were no ‘institutions’ then either).”
Bitcoin 1,000–10,000 BTC wallet inflows chart. Source: Whalemap
This week, Whalemap also noted that current spot price levels represent historically significant ground for buyers and sellers alike.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
