Bitcoin price rallied back above $80,000 ahead of the CLARITY Act markup, but the rally stalled again around $82,000, which proved to be a stubborn key resistance level.
Bitcoin prices rose to an intraday high of $81,957 during Thursday’s US trading session as crypto traders priced in bullish momentum around the key Senate Banking Committee vote.
The bill is widely seen as a pivotal regulatory milestone for the cryptocurrency space, and Bitcoin struck a “candle of God” as traders hoped it would provide a much-needed legal framework for stablecoins.
Much to the industry’s delight, the committee voted to advance the CLARITY Act to the full House floor, with two Democrats joining the Republican majority in a rare show of bipartisan support.
This was a major regulatory victory, and while many investors expected Bitcoin to continue rising toward new price discovery, the price movement unfolded like a typical “selling news” event, with distribution beginning ahead of major announcements.
On Binance, $BTC Although the price briefly managed to break above $82,000, exhausted bulls were unable to muster enough liquidity to continue higher.
As Invezz previously reported, this area has acted as a formidable technical resistance and has capped Bitcoin’s upward momentum on multiple occasions.
This level is roughly in line with the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) and the upper bound of the current ascending channel, leading to repeated declines as traders use this supply zone as a profit-taking opportunity.
What’s next for Bitcoin?
Although Bitcoin failed to sustain the breakout, it managed to stabilize above the key psychological support level of $80,000, which once again turned into resistance.
For any kind of continued upside to materialize, the flagship cryptocurrency will need to sustain above this level at daily closes to prevent a more severe correction.
With the CLARITY Act price hikes now complete, attention has shifted to the Fed, with the market preparing for a change in leadership from Jerome Powell to Kevin Warsh.
The biggest immediate impact on Bitcoin this week was the release of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report on Wednesday. The headline inflation rate accelerated to 3.8% year-on-year, exceeding expectations of 3.7%. The core inflation rate was also surprisingly positive at 2.8%.
The data reignited concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not only delay its rate cuts, but may even raise them again before the end of the year.
Attention is currently focused on Mr. Warsh and his policy comments after taking office as Fed chairman. Mr. Warsh is generally seen as more hawkish on inflation than his predecessor, which could push up the dollar and weigh on risk assets.
Investors will also be watching net inflows into Spot Bitcoin ETF products for further clues to institutional investor sentiment.
Massive outflows totaling $635.2 million were recorded on Wednesday, marking the biggest single-day outflow since late January as the institutional investor “buying wall” hit a major stalemate after six weeks of consistent rise.
Inflows turned positive again on Thursday, with more than $131 million in inflows, but the slow recovery was not enough to offset widespread caution that permeated the market.
price analysis
According to 4 hours $BTCOn the /USD chart, Bitcoin failed to sustain above the recent breakout zone around $82,000 and remains stuck within consolidation.
$BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView.
only for $BTC Even if it remains above the $80,000 support level, the bulls still have the chance to push the price higher in the short term.
The MACD indicator is showing early signs of recovery, with the histogram turning green and the MACD line attempting a bullish crossover. This suggests that bearish momentum may weaken after the recent pullback.
Meanwhile, the RSI indicator has recovered above the neutral 50 level, indicating that the buying power is stabilizing again, although momentum towards a definitive breakout remains relatively weak.
A break above $82,000 could open the door to higher resistance levels, while a break below $80,000 could subject Bitcoin to a deeper correction towards the $76,000 to $78,000 range.
