Bitcoin consolidates above $23k as investors await Fed’s verdict on interest rates

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(Kitco News) – Cryptos continued to consolidate on Tuesday as the volatile month of February draws to a close following enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission and news that companies like Mastercard are halting new crypto partnerships until market conditions improve.

The traditional market also limped across the finish line, with the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq ending the last day of February in the red, down 0.3%, 0.71% and 0.1% respectively.

Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) traded within a range between $23,300 and $23,800 throughout the day as neither the bulls nor the bears were able to take control of the price action to cause a notable price change.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

March Bitcoin futures prices were “slightly firmer in early US trading on Tuesday,” according to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who said “bulls still have the overall technical advantage in the near term as a price uptrend is in place on the daily chart. but barely.”

Wyckoff warned that “bulls have faded recently and will need to show renewed vigor soon to keep the uptrend alive and to retain their technical advantage.”

Heavy resistance at $25k

According to analysts at Arcane Research, “Bitcoin’s momentum stalled last week after failing to break through the $25,000 resistance” following a higher-than-expected PCE reading that resulted in the market adjusting expectations for rate hikes ahead of the March FOMC meeting.

“Other than the PCE reading, last week was relatively quiet and we note no relevant changes in market structure or general sentiment,” Arcane Research said.

According to Vetlee Lunde, senior analyst at Arcane Research, “short-term outlook has improved after a slow but SEC-heavy February and a BTC push towards $28k could happen sooner rather than later.”

Lunde noted that the next resistance level after $25,000 is at $28,000, and he expects the market to push in this direction in March.

“Like clockwork, BTC failed to break through the $25,000 resistance established in August and is still fluctuating within its post-credit crunch trading range,” Lunde wrote. “From a technical perspective, $25k is important. This area had brief support when Do Kwon’s House of Cards collapsed and has since been a key resistance area.”

As for what to look for until BTC is able to climb above $25,000, Eight Global founder Michaël van de Poppe posted the following tweet highlighting the need to turn $23,800 into support and identifying $22,500 as a good entry point for a long position.

#Bitcoin still unchanged at this point.

My thesis says I’m not interested until we turn around and break $23.8K for support.

After the hard decline, it looks like we’re in for a period of consolidation in a relatively boring week.

If so, ranges around $22.5K entry. pic.twitter.com/vwzad9Y83I

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) 28 February 2023

Four altcoins are rising while the rest are consolidating

Overall, the altcoin market consolidated alongside Bitcoin on Tuesday, but four tokens in the top 200 managed to post double-digit gains in the face of adversity.

Daily performance in the cryptocurrency market. Source: Coin360

Liquity (LQTY) was by far the best performer, gaining 65.13% on the day to trade at $2.07, while SingularityNET (AGIX) gained 15.9%, Nervos Network (CKB) climbed 12.78% and ImmutableX ( IMX) increased 11.71%.

The total cryptocurrency market cap is now at $1.058 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 42.3%.