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5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

byDanish zaheer
March 14, 2022

Bitcoin (BTC) begins another week struggling to maintain support as major macro changes appear on the horizon.

In what could prove to be a pivotal week for Bitcoin and altcoins’ relationship with traditional assets, the United States Federal Reserve will be the main talking point for hodlers.

In an atmosphere of still rampant inflation, still ongoing quantitative easing and geopolitical turmoil aimed at Europe, there is a lot of uncertainty in the air regardless of trade.

Add to that Bitcoin’s failure to capitalize on the chaos and the result is some serious cold feet – what would it take to instill confidence?

Just as it seems as if nothing can break the now-month-old status quo in Bitcoin markets, which have so far been stuck in a trading range for all of 2022, upcoming events could nevertheless be a catalyst for a sea change in both sentiment and price action.

CoinTelegraph looks at the factors that will help the markets move in the coming days.

Contents

Russia, China, Inflation and the Fed

Fight or not, the Fed is the likely leader when it comes to crypto performance this week.

On Wednesday, policymakers will decide whether or not to proceed with a major rate hike expected since last year.

The Fed has a problem: Inflation is soaring, but so is the desire to cut its record balance sheet after two years of coronavirus excesses.

So an interest rate hike seems only modest – perhaps a quarter of a basis point – but the implications could nevertheless be significant for Bitcoiners.

BTC has already shown a strong attachment to US equities, and any knee-jerk reactions to the Fed are likely to be copied.

Stocks are no friends of rate hikes, as the easy money spell that has accompanied the coronavirus responses was a sort of golden age that didn’t end until late 2021 when the reality of the Fed’s measures broke through. Bitcoin also saw a record high in November and then started a rapid decline.

“This week is going to be a big one for crypto and stock traders as the Fed is expected to decide on a one-quarter rate hike this week. Bitcoin and Ethereum will be pegged to the SP500 in 2022, and these decisions should have a major impact on cryptocurrencies,” analysis firm Santiment In summary Monday.

However, the Fed is far from the only macro player Bitcoiners should be concerned about.

In Europe, lawmakers will vote on cryptocurrency legislation, with some seeking to ban Proof-of-Work protocols due to environmental concerns.

While critics have already dismissed the idea as ridiculous, the threat to sentiment of a possible victory remains.

“A PoW ban would be a ban on guessing a number,” Knut Svanholm, author of “Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics” warned†

“Consider what such a ban would entail.”

Next door, the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues, along with its economic fallout — Russia is in danger of default, and sanctions and trade blockades are adding to inflationary pressures.

In China, meanwhile, the Coronavirus itself is back on the radar, with more and more residents locked up.

Spot price “celebrates” two years since Covid crash

As such, things are precarious at best for short-term Bitcoin traders.

Given that any of the above macro factors could trigger a new price in stocks, Bitcoin felt like a sitting duck at the start of the week for many.

“We have yet to see the capitulation dip like any other macro dip we’ve seen,” popular Twitter account Crypto Tony argued†

Such a capitulative move has already been voiced as a grim possibility, and the timing would be grim, almost exactly two years after the day BTC/USD crashed to $3,600 in the first round of Coronavirus chaos.

As previously reported, support levels remain unclaimed as $40,000 refuses to hold for more than a few days or hours.

The weekly close saw a last minute dip towards $37,000, BTC/USD nevertheless managed to regain much of its lost ground to trade around $38,600 at the time of writing.

Analyzing the near-term outlook, fellow Twitter account Plan C turned to its Confluence Floor Model to conclude that a macro price floor could hit in the coming month.

However, such a low could drop around $27,000 and would take Bitcoin below its 2021 opening price and briefly beyond the range it has since consolidated.

“I’m not convinced we’re going to get to 27k, but if history repeats itself for the 4th time in a row, that could be the nadir of this accumulation phase,” Plan C added in a Twitter commentary.

Accumulation creates a faint silver lining

As for accumulation, it seems that it is not all bad news when it comes to demand for Bitcoin at current prices.

As Cointelegraph reported, whales have been active in recent days, while the proportion of total BTC supply controlled by smaller investors has reached a year-on-year high.

Now those habits are being reflected in the ongoing new lows in stock market offerings.

The changes were spotted Monday by Philip Swift, creator of on-chain analytics resource LookIntoBitcoin.

Separate data from on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant confirms the trend and shows that of the 21 major exchanges it covers, BTC balances are at their combined lowest since early August 2018 – 2.32 million BTC.

The story with exchange balances is quite complex, because different exchanges show different trends.

In the latest issue of its weekly newsletter, “The Week On-Chain,” released March 7, fellow on-chain analytics platform Glassnode paid close attention to the phenomenon, noting that the sell-side offerings generally ” fairly modest” given macro conditions.

“During the highly volatile macro and geopolitical events of recent weeks, the exchange’s net flow volumes have also been fairly stable, despite a slight bias for inflows this week,” researchers noted at the time.

The latest Glassnode data shows that stock exchanges lost another $1.9 billion worth of BTC in the past week.

Market sentiment doesn’t impress anyone

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bitcoin and broader crypto sentiment are pointing solidly downhill this week.

After two months of shunting and fake-outs, the bulls are tired and the threat of macro-induced capitulation is in the air.

“Bitcoin sentiment now feels worse than July ’21 imo and price is now more than $8k higher than July ’21 low,” Twitter analytics account On-Chain College In summary†

to investigate The on-chain reality this week, research, insight and education sources Cane Island Digital Research highlighted the volume as another telltale sign that momentum had fallen out of Bitcoin.

“Bitcoin volume is a terrible price indicator, but it is a good indicator of sentiment,” it noted.

“It’s hard to imagine that volume could go much lower, meaning bitcoin must be close to a bottom.”

While this could be an indication of an incoming capitulation and trend reversal, the fear was still palpable.

Mark Yusko, founder, CEO & CIO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, described the Cane Island numbers as sentiment “close to washed out”.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, meanwhile, is in “extreme fear” territory, near the 20/100 mark that has been acting like a line in the sand since mid-February.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index (screenshot). Source: TradingView

Blast-off for volcano bonds?

Looking for a counterpoint to the seemingly endless bad news from macro sources?

Related: Top 5 Cryptocurrencies to Watch This Week: BTC, DOT, SAND, RUNE, ZEC

It could well come this week in the form of El Salvador and the issuance of the much-vaulted 10-year Bitcoin bonds, informally known as the “volcano bonds.”

The country that first used Bitcoin as legal tender last year has since switched to geothermal energy from a volcano to mine BTC.

To that end, it is now seeking long-term investment partnerships by issuing bonds tied directly to mining — a move that has got commentators excited about the serious money potentially pouring into the ecosystem.

While the exact date of issuance of the bonds, which is expected to attract $1 billion, remains unknown, suspicions are mounting that it could come this week.

Aside from the benefits of using the money to invest in BTC, the long-term ramifications of El Salvador’s plan, if successful, should be underestimated as a shift in the global economic paradigm, according to former Blockstream CSO, Samson Mow.

In an interview with Saifedean Ammous on the Bitcoin Standard Podcast this weekend, Mow was as optimistic as anyone in the outlook.

“So if El Salvador brings in this bond, it shows the world that you don’t have to rely on the IMF or a central lending institution that isn’t necessarily in your best interest, but you can just fund anything with Bitcoin covered bonds,” he said. he.