The Revival In the past two weeks, the market has seen a significant increase in bullish momentum leading many to believe that the proposed ‘echo bubble’ that many predicted for 2023 may indeed play out.
It was initially unclear what was driving this momentum but the market gaining confidence that CPI will continue to decrease, as well as a temporary liquidity increase thanks to the ongoing US Debt Ceiling increase crisis, seem to be important factors. The U.S. CPI data published on the 12th of February was in line with expectations with a 0.1% reduction. There is evidence to suggest that if CPI inflation continues to fall in 0.1% increments M/M, and if recessionary predictions play out as expected, then the FED could potentially hit its 2% Y/Y target as soon as May. An important thing to note is that this was the last CPI print that will be calculated based on the current methodology that considers two years of data. February’s data will be calculated on a single year of data meaning that future 2023 CPI prints will be based on consumption in 2021 alone. Considering 2021 data instead of 2020 and 2021 will likely bring the upcoming CPI numbers down leading analysts to believe that the FED is indeed engineering a pivot.
One event that could temporarily put a halt to the rally is that Genesis, the parent company of Grayscale, is said to be planning to apply for chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as this week. It’s worth noting that the discount on $GBTC has widened to -43% over recent days after it had climbed back up to -36.5% following the December lows. Many analysts feel that the market already has this event priced in, however, it is certainly something to keep an eye on.
From a technical perspective, Bitcoin broke out from the falling wedge pattern and ripped above $20,000. Bulls will be hoping for a weekly close above the $21,000 resistance which would light the way towards $28,700 which is the prior head and shoulders neckline and 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of the $3,782 2020 low to $69,000 2021 high. Bears will support the prediction of Elliot Wave theory that the observed rally is part of a Wave 4 correction. This means the market could potentially still have a Wave 5 selloff to come which would test the lows. The above Bitcoin weekly chart shows that the bullish momentum the market is experiencing in 2023 lies within the boundaries of Wave 4 meaning that the market may not be not out of the woods yet.
An important event to watch in the coming weeks is the FOMC meeting on the 1st of February. Following this meeting, the FED will release projections for the Federal Funds Rate in the coming quarters which will have a significant bearing on the short-run market direction. Volatility will be high around this time and caution should be exercised when entering positions.
