The Bitcoin and crypto market is facing a “bullish vacuum” in the short term. Following significantly lower than expected inflation figures (CPI and PPI) and the long-awaited turnaround from the Federal Reserve in the US, the Bitcoin price was able to continue its upward trend of the past few weeks and reached a new yearly high of $30,968 last Friday.
After the last few weeks were always packed with important macro data, there are virtually no key data points in the next two weeks. Only on May 3 this will change, when the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the US Federal Reserve is scheduled.
Therefore, there is a bullish gap until early May, in which the entire cryptocurrency market and Bitcoin seem likely to continue their rally. Still, there are a few events that are likely to influence the market this week as well. As we do every week on Mondays, we look at the most important dates.
This will be crucial for Bitcoin and Crypto
On Tuesday, April 18, all eyes will turn to Washington DC as US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has to justify his regulation of the US bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry. As Bitcoinist reported, Patrick McHenry, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, scheduled the hearing.
McHenry wants to examine Gensler’s actions against the US crypto industry. In an interview, he said:
This will be our first Securities and Exchange Commission oversight hearing. It will be about his rule making and his approach to digital assets. He will have great general oversight over the SEC. In terms of policy, (this will be) a serious approach in terms of us establishing (…) a regulatory sphere for digital assets.
Gensler is likely to face some tough scrutiny. French Hill (Republican) and Warren Davidson (Republican) are two cryptocurrency supporters who chair the Digital Assets Subcommittee. Davidson is one of Gensler’s biggest critics and recently posted a tweet calling for “Fire Gary” to become a bipartisan movement.
On Thursday, April 20 at 8:30 am (EST), the weekly data on initial jobless claims in the US will be released. Last week’s numbers were once again well above expectations. 240,000 are projected this week, up from 239,000 last week.
The slowly cooling US labor market has already manifested itself with a much weaker-than-expected JOLTS jobs report, as well as weak NFP labor market data in recent weeks. If the latest numbers on initial jobless claims confirm this trend, it would be yet another warning sign of a US recession.
If the labor market stabilizes again and jobless claims stop rising for the time being, this would be positive for the crypto market. The looming recession could at least be delayed a bit or could become less severe due to a still resilient job market.
Third, investors should also keep an eye on the dollar index (DXY). The DXY is at a critical point and could provide support for further uptrend in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies if it continues to fall. Analyst Scott Melker recently shared the chart below and fixed:
2 months later, the right shoulder has formed and the neckline is being tried on. It is still just an idea, but if that black line is broken, this would be confirmed and we should see sustained US dollar weakness.
At press time, the Bitcoin price stood at $29,899.
Featured Image from iStock, Chart from TradingView.com
