Due to Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium last Friday, the crypto and stock markets have shown little signs of recovery after a long crash last week. Bitcoin prices have climbed above 20K ahead of NFP today at $20,288 during the Asian session today. This marks its second major step towards recovery after falling to $19,560 last weekend. Ethereum has climbed above its significant support at $1,542 after falling to $1,480. Other altcoins, including BNB, Cardano, Litecoin, Polkadot, Uniswap, etc., are again printing green candles after today’s massive crash.
Powell’s hawkish stance that the Fed will continue with its aggressive interest rate hikes during their next session until their inflation target of 2% is met sent Bitcoin and altcoin prices to new lows last week.Investors were quick to exit risky assets in favour of bonds and other less risky investments with higher interest rates, such as the US dollar.Hence, over 72 billion were pulled out of the crypto market last week, which caused the total crypto market cap to fall below one trillion.
However, the market seems to be recovering, with more capital returning to the crypto market again to push the total market capitalization back above the one trillion level.
The stock market, which had suffered the same fate as crypto after Powell’s hawkish stance last week, made some positive moves on Thursday. Thus, we find major US stocks such as Apple Inc, Tesla, Airbnb Inc, Adobe Systems Inc., Allstate Corp, Amazon, Alibaba Group Holdings, Best Buy Co., Walt Disney Company, eBay Inc., Google Alphabet Inc class, etc., all making solid moves during the Asia session today.
Apple Inc. (#AAPL) was up by over 2.3%, with the price rising to $158.03 during the Asian session today.
Tesla (#TSLA) is up by 1.8%, with its price rising to $277.08.
Airbnb, Inc. (#ABNB) is up by 2.4%, with the price rising to $113.34.
Adobe Systems, Inc. (#ADBE) is up by 1.9%, with its price rising to $370.28.
Allstate Corp (#ALL) is up by 1.5%, with its price rising to $121.21.
Amazon (#AMZN) is up by 2.4%, with its price rising to $127.81.
Alibaba Group Holdings (#BABA) is up by 1.2%, with its price rising to $93.73.
Best Buy Co. (#BBY) is up by 2.6%, with its price rising to $71.82.
Walt Disney Company (#DIS) is up 2.1%, with the stock now trading at $112.47.
Google Alphabet Class Inc (#GOOG) is up 1.88% to $110.43 per share.
ETFs have followed the same path as stocks to print new high records in the market today.
Nevertheless, the continuation of the current bullish trend seen in the crypto and stock markets today will largely depend on the outcome of the Non-Farm Payroll (NFP) report to be delivered today. This is because all the digital assets traded in the forex market today have been pegged to the US dollar. Hence, all dollar index movements affect the crypto market either positively or negatively.
Investors are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the NFP report to help them make a long-term forecast on the direction of the crypto market in September, especially as the next Fed session is scheduled for this month also.
The NFP report measures the progress made in the US labour market by stating the number of jobs added compared to the previous month. It also states the unemployment rate, which helps to determine whether the US economy is glowing or depreciating.
A high increase in the US NFP figure from the report released today could result in another crash in the crypto and stock markets. This is because an increase in employment will convince the FOMC to proceed with a more aggressive interest rate hike during their next session this month.
On the contrary, a reduction in the employment rate, as well as a high increase in the unemployment rate, will largely favour the crypto and stock markets today. Thus, this could be an essential factor in causing the Fed to slow down its rate of an interest rate hike during their next session this month.
Above all, September has historically been a bearish month for cryptocurrencies. However, many suppose the current month might be an exception since the market has been in a long bearish season since the beginning of 2022.
Bitcoin Predictions
Bitcoin rebounded from the strong support created during the dip at $19,938 early this week. The bulls are currently pushing to sustain the price above the 20K level despite the strong opposition coming in at the moment. Bitcoin has to hold above this level to attract more investors again. The next target for Bitcoin is $20,600. A break above this could pave the way to 21K.
On the contrary, should the price fail to hold above this 20K region, we can expect more downside and a retest of the previous support at $19,938. A break below this level could trigger more downside, with the next target at $19,367.
Substantial volatility will be expected from both the crypto and stock markets today, depending on the outcome of the NFP report. The predominant sentiment towards Bitcoin is bearish.
