Bitcoin is currently trading around $19.8k at press time. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is continuing to face massive pressure from the bears as it looks to defend desperately against their advances. Altcoins on the other hand were also slightly bearish for much of the day apart from one exception. More on that later on.
In other news, major investment bank Goldman Sachs has predicted a bearish near future for the stock market and Bitcoin itself. The bank stated in a recent report that the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate hike could devastate the investment markets and shift the focus of investors. A probable dip to $12k is being estimated for the cryptocurrency. More on that later on.
Quick research shows that Dogecoin has fallen more than 75% against Bitcoin after Elon Musk’s Saturday Night live mentions. The eccentric Tesla CEO was on the hit American comedy program and talked about DOGE for a few minutes. However, the cryptocurrency faced massive losses in the aftermath, both against the USD and BTC. It hasn’t been able to recover from it ever since Musk made that appearance. Musk has unsuccessfully tried a lot to kickstart its recovery like tweeting banter and memes but to no avail. It seems like the meme cryptocurrency needs to find a new saviour as Musk’s antics are hardly working for it.
Famous economist and author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki has also warned against the upcoming US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike. He believes that the move will destroy the American economy. He advised users to save up on “real money” aka Bitcoin. He also stated that the actual on-ground inflation was a lot higher than the 7-8% quoted by the Department of labour.
Both Ripple and the SEC have filed motions to get an immediate ruling in the ongoing case between the two. The two opposing parties believe that the presiding judge Analisa Torres should make her decision as enough information has been presented to her.
Bitcoin Languishing Below $20k
Bitcoin is once again stuck below the $20k level as the bears mount further pressure on the proceedings. The index isn’t exactly falling but the bears are showing a trailer of what is to come.
The last 24 hours started with BTC at around $20.08k. It traded sideways for a long part of the day, not going below $20k during that. However, at 11:30 AM, the index began to fall. It easily fell below the key support and is now trading below it at press time after several failed attempts to recover to its previous position.
Going forward, Bitcoin continues to face renewed pressure from the bears. While they have been unable to translate this trend into actual price movement below, their grip couldn’t be understated as they are stopping any bullish moves above $20k with particular ease. Going forward, users must be prepared for a bearish drop in the coming days or weeks. Only a confident bullish move above $22k can help nullify this impression, at least the way things are going.
The total market capitalization of BTC was around $376 billion and its share of the proceedings was 41.06%.
Altcoins Post Small Losses
Other cryptocurrencies aka altcoins posted some small losses overall as they cool down after the end of Ethereum’s merge trading ferver. Major losers included Ethereum (ETH, -6%), Cardano (ADA, -3.5%), Dogecoin (DOGE, -3.3%), Polkadot (DOT, -5.1%), Polygon (MATIC, -3.6%), Shiba Inu (SHIB, -3.1%), UNUS SED (LEO, -6%) and Ethereum Classic (ETC, -7%). The only exception was Ripple (XRP, 5%) which reported some gains for the second consecutive day owing to the recent news regarding its case against the SEC.
In Other News….
Bitcoin May Drop to $12k
Bitcoin’s recent struggles make it clear that the bottom of this bear market is yet to come. The cryptocurrency has posted a low of around $17.7k earlier this year but the worst may yet to come.
Goldman Sachs, a major investment bank in USA believes that the decision of the US Federal Reserve to raise interest points aggressively is going to take a toll on the economy. The markets are going to be affected a lot due to this economic slowdown with investors preferring to cash out and save in Dollars.
Options Trading already predicts a price drop to around $10k-12k in the near future. However, Goldman Sachs was a lot bullish on BTC just a year ago and it didn’t reach its predicted targets and missed them. Perhaps the crypto sector can avoid these low levels in the next phase of the bear market.