By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 29th, 2024
Bitcoin halving 2024 is less than 11 days away from happening amid heightened demand from institutional investors from all over the world.
Bitcoin (BTC) price briefly slipped below $68,000 on Wednesday to reach a 24-hour low of about $67,568. However, the flagship coin rebounded during the New York trading session on Wednesday to trade at about $68,668. Following the heightened crypto volatility, more than $253 million was liquidated, with the majority of about $186 million consisting of long traders.
Possible Delay of US Rate Cuts
The sudden crypto dip that also impacted gold prices was attributed to the high-impact news from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics involving the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Notably, the US CPI data both for the monthly and yearly change came in hotter than expected, thus quashing the expectations of a rate cut by June.
Furthermore, all indicators point to the fact that the Fed has not entirely tamed inflation. Earlier, Fed Chair Jerome Powell had indicated that rate cut would begin as early as June, following a lower inflation rate.
“When you start to see month after month of inflation not falling, and tipping up if you look at the six-month changes, I think that has given the Fed pause … There has been a change in sentiment,” Karen Dynan, a Harvard University economics professor, noted.
High Bitcoin Demand Amid Upcoming Halving
As Coinspeaker reported earlier today, heightened Bitcoin demand has helped push prices higher even before the actual halving event. Notably, Chinese institutional investors have been seeking to get Bitcoin exposure through spot BTC ETF applications in Hong Kong. With anticipation of spot BTC ETF approval in Hong Kong soon, the demand vs supply shock will continue to push prices higher.
Interestingly, the volume for the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States in the past few months has ranged at the same level as the volume recorded during the 2020/2021 bull run. With the fourth Bitcoin halving less than two weeks from happening, Bitcoin price will continue to register heightened volatility. However, some analysts have suggested that the Bitcoin halving event could turn out to be a sell-the-news event.
#Bitcoin markets have seen a surge in spot trade volume since the US Spot ETFs went live in early January 2024. As the market reached the $73k ATH in mid-March, daily volumes recorded a peak of ~$14.1B.
This magnitude of spot trade volume is equivalent to the height of the… pic.twitter.com/ZRarR9fli8
— glassnode (@glassnode) April 10, 2024
Midterm BTC Price Expectations
Bitcoin price has struggled to rally above the recently achieved all-time high (ATH) of around $74k in the past few weeks. According to a technical Bitcoin price analysis by Peter Brandt, Bitcoin price could have reached a local top despite the macro trend being a bullish outlook.
This same basic pattern has been common in past bull markets in Bitcoin https://t.co/owOGKhjkr1 pic.twitter.com/xiwVRExzOi
— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) April 9, 2024
If Bitcoin price continues to drop against the US dollar in the coming days, the instrument could find a solid support between $60k and $61k. Nonetheless, the short-term bearish sentiment for Bitcoin price could be invalidated if the coin consistently closes above $72k in the coming days.