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Bitcoin (BTC) drifted toward major liquidity around the Feb. 13 Wall Street open as the dust settled on United States regulatory news.

BTC traders spread bids lower

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD $21,476 on Bitstamp, almost matching the weekend’s three-week lows.

As analysts expected a “choppy” day prior to key U.S. macroeconomic data, news that Blockchain firm Paxos was being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) added to market nerves.

BTC spot price action thus inched ever closer to a major area of bid liquidity on the Binance order book, something which Maartunn, a contributor to on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, dubbed “The Great Wall.”

“'The Great Wall' (price support) on Bitcoin is placed at $21,500. This morning some bids got filled. Thereby, the strength of the wall has been reduced from $25 ~ $27 million to $19 million,” he noted.

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week just under $22,000 as bulls fail to reclaim lost ground in February.

After modest volatility toward the weekly close, BTC/USD is still near three-week lows as a new status quo enters with $22,000 as resistance.

However, the largest cryptocurrency stands at the beginning of an important week of macroeconomic data, with plenty of opportunities for volatility to return.

These come first and foremost in the form of the January print of the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI), which will be released on Feb. 14.

Other data prints will follow throughout the week, with analysts keenly eyeing the responses of the crypto markets and U.S. dollar.

Bitcoin (BTC) price is trying to recover over the weekend but the current bounce lacks conviction. This suggests that dip buyers are nervous to load up before the release of January’s consumer price index data on Feb. 14 as that could boost short-term volatility. 

Although the near term is uncertain, analysts at Delphi Digital expect the United States Federal Reserve to pivot to an accommodative policy later in the year and that could be favorable for risk assets.

Another bullish projection came from Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead who said that Bitcoin’s “seventh bull cycle” may have begun. Morehead highlighted that the decline from November 2021 to November 2022 lasted 376 days and that BTC price witnessed a 77% drawdown, in line with the median downdraft of 307 days and a median drawdown of 73% seen during earlier bear markets.

The analysts seem to be turning positive on Bitcoin for the long term but the near term remains uncertain. 

Let’s study the charts of Bitcoin and select altcoins to spot the critical levels to watch out for.

Bitcoin (BTC) edged closer to $22,000 over the weekend as traders and analysts urged caution on overly bearish sentiment.

Analyst dismisses “hysterical” crypto sentiment

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD seeing small spurts higher into Feb. 12.

After hitting three-week lows the week prior, Bitcoin was a target for opportunistic whales, on-chain analytics resource Material Indicators explained.

Uploading a chart from the BTC/USD order book on Binance, Material Indicators captured resistance shifting higher, with the potential uptick in spot price offering a more advantageous selling level for large-volume players.

“FireCharts shows Crypto Weekend whales seem interested in trying to exploit the upside illiquidity in the Bitcoin order book to sell higher. Personally, I’m fine with that,” part of the accompanying comments read.

Bitcoin (BTC) is beginning its “seventh bull cycle,” and investors should not be scared of crypto post-FTX, Pantera Capital believes.

In its latest “Blockchain Letter” on Feb. 8, the asset management firm’s CEO, Dan Morehead, predicted that 2023 would be a “year for rebuilding trust.”

Morehead: Crypto assets have “seen the lows” this cycle

With BTC price action retracing slightly after gaining 40% in January, some market participants still insist that new macro lows are due across crypto assets.

While the timing for such a scenario varies, consensus remains absent when it comes to how the market will rebound.

For Morehead, however, the time to flip bullish on crypto is already here.

Bitcoin (BTC) price and the wider crypto market corrected at the start of this week, giving back a small portion of the gains accrued in January, but it’s safe to say that the more experienced traders expected some sort of technical correction. 

What was unexpected was the SEC’s Feb. 9 enforcement against Kraken exchange and the regulator’s announcement that staking-as-service programs are unregulated securities. The crypto market sold-off on the news and given Kraken’s decision to close up 100% of its staking services, traders are concerned that Coinbase will eventually be forced to do the same.

The real question is, does this week’s price action reflect a change in the trend of bullish momentum seen throughout January, or is the “staking services are unregistered securities” news a simple blip that traders will disregard in the coming weeks?

According to analysts at analytics firm Delphi Digital, crypto is set up for a “roller coaster ride in 2023.” Analysts Kevin Kelly and Jason Pagoulatos explained the start of the year price action as being fueled by “recent increases in global liquidity” which are favorable to risk assets, but both agree that macroeconomic headwinds will continue to negatively impact markets until at least the third quarter of 2023.

Beyond the negative news of this week and its impact on crypto prices, there are a handful of metrics that provide some insight into how the rest of the year could be for the crypto market.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is ramping up pressure on the crypto sector. On Feb. 9, the SEC reached a $30 million settlement with Kraken over the centralized staking program it offered to its users.

The news of the crackdown sent the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to a three-week low as investors became fearful of the regulatory enforcement. Ether’s (ETH) price also corrected on the news, cementing the token’s worst-performing day of 2023.

While the overall crypto market was down after the SEC announcement, bright spots arose, with decentralized liquid staking tokens LDO, RPL and FXS quickly rebounding from their sharp corrections.

According to Crypto Twitter analyst Korpi, Kraken and Coinbase represent 33% of all staked Ether, and if U.S.-based centralized exchanges are “forced” to cease offering staking-as-a-service programs, liquid staking derivatives providers could absorb that market share.

Based on recent tweets, crypto traders are well aware of this potential outcome, and this could be part of the reason for the short-term rebound seen in Lido’s LDO, Rocket Pool’s RPL and Frax’s FXS. Let’s take a look at some fundamental data points that might back their bullish thesis.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw no relief at the Feb. 10 Wall Street open as United States equities dipped further.

"All eyes" on 200-day moving averages

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it tracked sideways following a volatile 24 hours’ trading.

Existing market weakness was compounded by an announcement from U.S. regulators concerning Ethereum (ETH) staking, with major crypto exchange Kraken forced to suspend its staking operations and pay a $30 million fine.

Bitcoin fell to three-week lows as a result, with traders eyeing potential retests of $20,000 and even $19,000 to come.

On the day, stocks offered little by way of comfort to risk asset traders, with the S&P 500 opening down to cross a significant line in the sand left over from late last year.

Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), saw its worst daily performance of the year as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stopped Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, from offering crypto staking services.

On Feb. 9, Kraken agreed to pay $30 million to settle the SEC’s allegation that it broke securities rules by offering crypto staking services to U.S. retail investors.

In particular, the news pushed down the prices of many proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain project tokens. Ethereum, which switched to a staking-based protocol in September 2022, also suffered.

On Feb. 9, ETH’s price plunged nearly 6.5% to around $1,525, the largest single-day decline since Dec. 16 of last year.

Will Ethereum staking survive the SEC crackdown?

The SEC's crackdown on crypto staking begins as Ethereum awaits the release of its key network upgrade, dubbed Shanghai, in March. 

Bitcoin (BTC) fell to bearish target zones on Feb. 10 as bulls failed to hold important support above $22,000.

Crypto wipeout mounts as BTC price loses $22,000

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD dropping to $21,633 on Bitstamp.

The pair reacted badly to regulatory fears from the United States but had already faced days of bearish sentiment, with traders expecting a retest of $21,000 or even lower.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin traded at around $21,800, down around 7% in February so far.

“Bear market back or are we just having a slight correction?” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, queried on the day.

Bitcoin (BTC) stayed lower at the Feb. 9 Wall Street open as a sweep of local lows increased bets of a more serious comedown.

Trader: “Something feels off” about BTC strength

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it traded around $22,700 on Bitstamp.

The pair had dipped to $22,378 earlier in the day, marking its lowest levels since Jan. 25 and a reinforcement of $22,400 as an important zone to watch.

“We tapped the swing low at $22,500 followed by a bounce. I would look for the bears to escalate the drop once we lose that low,” popular trader Crypto Tony summarized in part of Twitter coverage.

Fellow trader Crypto Chase likewise forecast that Bitcoin was “more likely to go lower if 22.3k is tagged.”

Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and even nascent altcoins are a solid “buy,” a previously risk-off investor says.

In a blog post released on Feb. 8, industry stalwart Arthur Hayes announced a u-turn on his current crypto investment plans.

Hayes changes tune on “risky assets”

Current macroeconomic conditions stemming from the United States Federal Reserve previously made Arthur Hayes keen to avoid what he calls “risky assets.”

As inflation slows in tandem with the Fed’s rate hikes, multiple new storms are brewing in the U.S., and the Fed, Congress and the Treasury will steer the economy as they see fit, he says.

The problem is guessing how these events will play out over the course of the year. For Hayes, 2023 could well be split into two halves, with H1 being an ideal investment environment for crypto.

A little-known Bitcoin (BTC) price metric has just given a new bull run signal — and it has never been wrong.

As noted on Feb. 8 by Caleb Franzen, senior market analyst at Cubic Analytics, the Williams %R oscillator has left its bottom zone for the first time since May 2022.

Analyst: Oscillator crossover is a “great sign”

Bitcoin gaining 40% in January and continuing to hold higher levels has produced breakout signals across various on-chain indicators.

Some analysts are cautious, opting to wait and see if the improved conditions last, but for Franzen, the data coming from the Williams %R oscillator is of particular interest.

Williams %R is a momentum oscillator that measures how near BTC/USD is to its recent highs or lows. Momentum oscillators are utilized to measure the strength of a price trend, and Bitcoin’s January performance has made it a prime test case.

The Graph (GRT) price slipped on Feb. 8 alongside a broader correction across the top crypto assets.

GRT price skyrockets with other data management tokens

GRT’s price plunged nearly 14.5% intraday to $0.18, showing signs of short-term upside exhaustion after rising over 200% earlier in the year. At its sessional high, the token was changing hands for $0.23 on Feb. 7, its highest level in nine months

Buying flocked to the GRT market amid a relatively stronger risk-on mood, led by the United States Federal Reserve’s slower interest rate hikes and a strong recovery witnessed in the Bitcoin (BTC) market, which typically influences altcoins into tailing the trend.

The GRT price rally also accompanied similar gains across data management platform tokens. This sector’s market capitalization doubled so far in 2023, with Ocean Protocol (OCEAN), Mask Network (MASK) and Band Protocol (BAND) recording over 200%, 100% and 60% gains, respectively.

Will The Graph’s price correction continue?

The impressive GRT price rally has left The Graph as technically overbought, according to its daily relative strength index (RSI) indicator.

Bitcoin (BTC) held by Tesla is still worth 33% less than its 2021 purchase price, the latest data shows.

Two years to the day that Elon Musk’s firm added BTC to its balance sheet, most gains continue to evade the auto manufacturer.

Tesla and Bitcoin: From $1.5 billion to $225 million

Bitcoin and Tesla have proven an explosive combination since Musk announced that it would buy $1.5 billion in BTC.

The move in February 2021 came as BTC/USD was on its way to its first all-time high of the year, which it reached in April, topping out at $58,000.

Tesla’s purchase price was around $34,700 at the time, according to data from the tracking website Bitcoin Treasuries.

Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded to key resistance on Feb. 8 as crypto markets got a boost from a familiar source.

Powell: “Disinflationary process” is here

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching the important $23,400 zone on Bitstamp overnight.

The pair reacted positively to the latest comments from the United States Federal Reserve, which also sent equities higher during the Feb. 7 Wall Street trading session.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell again mentioned “disinflation” during his appearance, reinforcing market hopes that interest rate hikes could cool more quickly in line with inflation. These stemmed from the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Feb. 1, where the Fed raised rates by 0.25%.

“The message that we were sending at the FOMC meeting last Wednesday was really that the disinflationary process — the process of getting inflation down — has begun, and it’s begun in the goods sector, which is about a quarter of our economy,” he said at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.