Bitcoin (BTC) clung to modest gains at the July 8 Wall Street open as United States equities hit new record highs.
Bitcoin continues to split from sky-high stocks, gold
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed a BTC price tug-of-war over the $56,000 mark.
Amid heightened volatility, spot price glided through thin liquidity throughout the weekend, hitting turbulence after the July 7 weekly close before rebounding during the Asia trading session.
Crypto markets then declined again, continuing to diverge from risk assets more widely as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index achieved new all-time highs on the day.
“Equities and Gold have been bouncing higher from the start of last week but crypto prices have gone the other way,” trading firm QCP Capital summarized in part of its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers.
Attention thus focused on the week’s upcoming macroeconomic reports and testimony by Jerome Powell, Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
“FED Chair Powell's testimony Tuesday and comments Wednesday, or some crypto related legislation could provide a catalyst for speculators,” Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, wrote in part of his latest analysis on X (formerly Twitter).
Like many market participants, Alan struck a highly cautious tone when it came to Bitcoin, warning that new macro lows could still easily occur.
“The market could test your conviction with a wick to $48k,” he continued alongside a chart which featured one of Material Indicators’ proprietary trading tools showing key support lines.
“If that happens, a quick recovery back above $50k would be critical to prevent a dump to test support at the 2 year trend line.”
Alan noted that a 40% drawdown from March’s $73,800 all-time highs was something he had been eyeing since Bitcoin’s block subsidy halving event a month later.
"This retrace is not just the deepest in the cycle thus far. But it is officially the second-longest retrace in the cycle as well (49 days)," popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital continued on the topic, comparing the current downturn to those before it.
Hopes lie with Bitcoin ETFs
Others hoped that the U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) might provide the buyer interest needed to reclaim higher levels.
These had seen another $143 million of net inflows during their previous trading day on July 5, their highest in a month and attributed to institutional interest in “buying the dip.”
"The run-up from $16K to $73K was largely driven by the ETFs, following a buy-the-rumor buy-the-news phenomenon," the co-founder and chief operations officer of Bitcoin custody consultancy firm 21st Capital known as Sina G wrote in a recent analysis piece on X.
"Up to mid-march ETF flows were very strong and the market moved up. Since then ETFs slowed down and bankruptcy outflows took over, causing a weak price action all the way down to $56K."