Bitcoin (BTC) traded closer to $17,000 on January 7 after the end of the first trading week of the year posted a surge higher.
All eyes on the CPI
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it briefly crossed the $17,000 mark the previous day.
The pair had seen a flash of volatility on the back of recent economic data from the United States, but this faded to leave the key “unflipped” level as resistance.
However, a brief uptick sent Bitcoin to its highest price point since December 20, 2022.
Reacting, market participants continue to see next week’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) print as a major potential catalyst for risk assets.
“Unemployment will rally in the coming months. Income will fall off the cliff if the CPI is low,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading company Eight, write in part of a summary tweet on January 6.
“A relief rally is imminent.”
“Finally it looks like BTC is ready to break out of the basic $16K – $17K range that it has been stuck in for the past few weeks. It’s starting to squeeze,” hopeful seller Kaleo along.
If the CPI data shows inflation falling faster than expected, it could provide fuel for a trip to a multi-month high near $19,000, futures trader Satoshi Flipper added.
The data shows the level of on-chain losses
Zoom out, fellow traders and Rekt Capital analysts join the growing consensus on the current narrow trading range in BTC/USD forming the next macro bottom zone.
Related: $16.8K Bitcoin now trades further below this key trendline than ever
“Today’s BTC price action will be an important cluster in the formation of the Bear Market lower Accumulation Range,” he said determined.
In a further demonstration of the pain hodlers have been dealing with, on-chain analytics firm Glassnode has shown that Bitcoin has seen its second largest cap pullback.
The realized cap represents the aggregate price when the supply of BTC was last moved, and the drop represents the loss that was sold.
“Bitcoin Bear Market 2022-23 has seen Realization cap drawdown of -18.8%, the second largest in history, and only surpassed by the pico-bottom bear of 2011,” Checkmate, Glassnode main chain analyst, comments along with the chart.
“Investors have experienced a total of $88 Billion in Net Realized losses.”
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