Bitcoin fails to react to a positive PPI print, while Ether gets busy defending the $2,000 mark which it reclaimed for the first time in eight months.
Bitcoin (BTC) preserved $30,000 support at the April 12 Wall Street open as more United States macroeconomic data boosted bulls.
BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
PPI hints further inflation drops to come
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hovering near $30,250 on Bitstamp.
Amid a slowdown in volatility, U.S. Producer Price Inflation (PPI) data provided a timely hint that inflation was slowing faster than expected.
Headline PPI came in at 2.7% year-on-year versus market expectations of 3% — an encouraging result for risk assets.
US March PPI fell 0.5% MoM, below estimate of 0%, in another sign that US #inflation may have peaked. pic.twitter.com/mfI7ab03ev
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) April 13, 2023
Financial commentary resource The Kobeissi Letter was among those noting that the month-on-month drop in PPI values was the largest since the peak in March 2022.
“The overall PPI inflation rate has fallen from 11.3% to 2.7% since June 2022, less than 1 year ago. There also has not been a monthly increase in PPI inflation since June 2022,” it added.
Reacting, market commentator Tedtalksmacro suggested that the numbers would also provide a snowball effect for another key inflation metric, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the March print for which also beat prognoses.
“Indicative of further falls in CPI/PCE in coming months,” he summarized in comments about the PPI result.
Inflation subsiding faster has traditionally buoyed cryptoasset performance as it raises hopes that U.S. economic policy will become less restrictive.
A key event for market participants now will be the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate change, the decision on which is due in May.
According to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, expectations still favored a further rate hike of 0.25%, with PPI notably doing little to change the mood.
Fed target rate probabilities chart. Source: CME Group
Bitcoin, Ether struggle at key levels
While holding $30,000 as support, meanwhile, Bitcoin failed to convince everyone that its ten-month peak would stay.
Related: Can Ethereum crack $2K? ETH price inches closer despite new unlocked supply
Monitoring resource Material Indicators warned of a bearish signal on its proprietary trading tools, within a broader bullish context.
Both Trend Precognition algos are showing red on the BTC Daily chart. Signals are tentative, but both algos on the same candle has historically had a high probability of accuracy so these are the signals I’ll often act early on. Of course PPI coming at 8:30am might make things… pic.twitter.com/rKguVIeS5d
— Material Indicators (@MI_Algos) April 13, 2023
A snapshot of buy and sell levels on the Binance order book prior to PPI meanwhile showed the strongest resistance parked at $30,500.
“Near range bid liquidity may limit the downside volatility, but this is the #WildWest of #Crypto so anything goes. Watch for rugs,” Material Indicators wrote in part of accompanying comments.
BTC/USD order book data (Binance). Source: Material Indicators/ Twitter
As Cointelegraph reported, it was largest altcoin Ether (ETH) stealing the limelight on the day, passing $2,000 for the first time since August last year.
ETH/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
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