Bitcoin price and Ether rise as a US indicator shows that inflation pressures are receding
Bitcoin price temporarily surpassed $19,000 on Thursday, climbing 8% on the day and reaching its highest level since the FTX crash-induced market collapse in early November. Crypto-related stocks gained considerably more as the sector’s rise continued. BTC fell early in the day as the latest U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report revealed that inflation slowed last month before surging in the afternoon trading hours (ET). As of publishing, it has returned to $18,832.
BTC/USD 4-hour chart | Source: TradingView
Bitcoin price, Ether prices jump as U.S. indicator shows inflation pressure is easing
BTC momentarily surged beyond $19,000 during the early afternoon Eastern time, up more than 7% for the day and at its highest level since it was gapping down in early November as crypto exchange FTX crashed. After plunging 63% in 2022, Bitcoin is now up roughly 14% this year.
“Bitcoin is on the verge of breaking the $19k resistance level for the first time since Nov. 8th. Whales are beginning to take interest and are likely perpetuating this climb, with $1M+ $BTC transactions rebounding to November, 2022 levels”, Santiment reported.
For the first time since Nov. 8, when FTX had a tentative deal to sell to Binance, Bitcoin topped $19,000. Over the last day, the largest cryptocurrency gained more than 8%. Traditional markets also rose following data that US inflation slowed in December.
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, has recently followed BTC’s lead, climbing 6% for the day to roughly $1,427 as of press time. As Ethereum’s impending Shanghai upgrade approaches in the spring, Etherscan data shows that as on Thursday, more over 16 million ETH have been invested into Ethereum’s Beacon Chain staking contract, totaling more than $22 billion at current pricing.
BTC began trading in 2023 at roughly $16,550, and recent developments in the larger financial environment appear to have positively impacted the price as recession fears begin to recede with the release of the Federal Reserve’s December Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report analyzes the rate of change in the prices of various products and services in the United States and is a key indicator for evaluating inflation.
The December CPI figure fell from 7.1% in November, marking the greatest monthly decline in the inflation indicator since April 2020, bolstering hopes that the Federal Reserve will now relax back on its rate-hiking program.
The Federal Reserve boosted interest rates by 50 basis points last month, to between 4.25% and 4.5%, the highest level in 15 years. It had hiked interest rates by 75 basis points in four successive meetings to combat inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has warned of further rate hikes in 2023, with the next Federal Reserve meeting scheduled for January 31-February 1.
The total market capitalization for the overall crypto marketplace stands at $943 million, up 5.1% in the last 24 hours.
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