Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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BTC is down 3% in the last 24 hours and is now trading below $69k.
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The bearish performance comes amid the uncertainty of the US-Iran deal and Ukraine striking Russia’s oil infrastructure.
Bitcoin Fails to Overcome the $72k Resistance
The cryptocurrency market has been consolidating over the past few days, with Bitcoin stuck between the $68k and $72k regions.
The leading cryptocurrency by market cap rallied to the $72,000 level on Wednesday but failed to overcome the 50-day EMA resistance at $72,100. It now fell by 3% since Thursday and now trades at $68,875 per coin.
The bearish performance comes as Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil infrastructure have disrupted a key workaround to offset supply shocks from the Iran war. The damage is significant, with roughly 40% of Russia's oil export capacity offline.
With movement around the Strait of Harmouz heavily restricted, Ukraine’s attack puts another uncertainty layer to the global energy crisis, resulting in the financial markets recording massive losses on Thursday.
In an email to Cryptowisser, Sergei Gorev, head of risk at YouHodler, stated that Bitcoin has been consolidating for a month and a half. While the S&P 500 index, the gold price, and global debt markets continue to set new local price lows. The debt market remains the largest among global financial markets. The interest rates on France's and Germany's 10-year bonds have reached their 15-year highs. Given the current levels of debt and budget deficits, and the share of budget expenditures on debt servicing, rising interest rates are very dangerous for these countries.
The downside is driven by rising oil prices and inflation at present. If in 2010 only Greece had problems, now we have a growing debt bomb on a pan-European scale.
“In our opinion, despite concerns about high interest rates, liquidity inflows into spot ETFs for cryptocurrencies have so far kept bitcoin from collapsing. We also believe that the money of private investors seeking to escape the “Arabian tale in the desert” supports the price of BTC. It is quite difficult to withdraw investment funds from the Persian Gulf countries at once and in large amounts. Many elites buy at current prices and withdraw their capital from banks in the form of cryptocurrencies, bypassing controlled banking systems, which, in a panic, can temporarily suspend operations until the situation in the region normalizes,” the analyst added.
Analysts are optimistic that Bitcoin holding its ground while stocks decline suggests that investors are now starting to view it as a safe haven. With Gold and Silver underperforming in recent weeks, liquidity could circle back to Bitcoin, and the leading cryptocurrency by market cap could rally past the $80,000 level over the next few days or weeks.
