Bitcoin (17,087 BTC $17,087) attempted to return $17,000 for support on December 1 after closing its lowest monthly close in two years.
Hourly candlestick chart BTC/USD (Bitstamp). Source: Trade Review
Bitcoin gains an inch at the end of November
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hovering around $17,100 on a second intraday charge to higher levels.
The pair managed to avoid losses at the close of the monthly candle, instead recording a strong daily gain of around 4.5% on November 30th.
However, Bitcoin lost 16.2% on the month, making November 2022 the worst since 2019.
BTC/USD monthly yield chart (screenshot). Source: Coinglass
More optimistic moods coincided with the comments of the US Federal Reserve. In his speech on inflation and the labor market, Chairman Jerome Powell openly stated that small interest rate hikes could start as early as December.
“Monetary policy impacts the economy and inflation with an indefinite delay, and the full impact of our rapid tightening has yet to be felt,” he said.
Thus, it makes sense to moderate the pace of rate hikes as we approach a level of moderation sufficient to reduce inflation. The time to soften the pace of rate hikes may come as early as the December meeting.
Powell characteristically warned of the announcement of a complete turnaround in policy that markets have been eagerly awaiting all year.
“Given our progress on policy tightening, the timing of this easing is much less important than questions of how much more we need to raise rates to control inflation and how long it will take to keep policy at a restrictive level. ,” he added.
However, equities reacted positively, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes up 3.1% and 4.4% respectively by the end of the day, as was bitcoin.
No euphoria among traders
Meanwhile, in their own responses, cryptocurrency market commentators were just as chilly about the near-term outlook, despite a modest rise at the end of the month.
Crypto Tony warned that traders are “getting overconfident” in December and this is no longer a suitable blind entry point.
“Now is not the time to do all this thinking this is the bottom of Crypto,” he told followers on Twitter.
We have yet to see: – Macro high and low (retrend of the market structure) – Bullish volume entry – Spot buying – Corrective structure completion.
Annotated BTC/USD chart. Source: Crypto Tony/Twitter
He added that the key level that needs to be held for the bull market structure to continue is $16,700.
Mikael van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, agreed that $16,700 was important to his own strategy.