Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) trended toward $24,000 at the Feb. 16 Wall Street open after fresh macroeconomic data from the United States overshot estimates.<\/p>\n Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro<\/a> and TradingView<\/a>\u00a0showed BTC\/USD retracing some of its latest gains on the day, trading at around $24,400 on Bitstamp at the time of writing.<\/p>\n The pair had hit $24,895 on Bitstamp overnight, marking its highest levels in six months as a surprise rally appeared to catch many traders off-guard.<\/p>\n Over the two days to Feb. 16, $80 million in short positions were liquidated<\/a> on Bitcoin alone, with $65 million coming on Feb. 15 \u2014 the most in a single day since Jan. 20.<\/p>\n The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) print for January nonetheless extinguished some of the excitement on risk assets as it showed prices increasing more than expected on a year-on-year basis.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index were both down 1.1% at the time of writing.<\/p>\n “Some signs of economic weakening in today\u2019s macro data,” investment research resource Game of Trades wrote<\/a> in part of a Twitter reaction, also noting that unemployment data had come in below the expected 200,000 claims for the week.<\/p>\n Markets rattled by hot US PPI data. US PPI for Jan was hot (hotter than the CPI from a few days ago), w\/headline +0.7% MoM vs +0.4%, PPI YoY at 6% vs 5.4% expected. Core US PPI disappointed as well w\/+0.6% MoM vs +0.2% expected, 4.5% YoY vs 4% expected. pic.twitter.com\/IE7SWvcM8Q<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) February 16, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In step with declining equities, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) showed renewed strength, climbing above 104.1 to its highest levels since the first week of the year.<\/p>\n “Still going perfectly as expected, so far we’re seeing a D1 downtrend break and flip, eyes on D1 200 EMA in the 104.5-104.7 area as discussed past couple of weeks,” popular trader Pierre wrote in an update<\/a> on events.<\/p>\n Bitcoin faced key moving averages of its own, meanwhile, in the form of the 50-week and 200-week trend lines, these having just printed their first-ever<\/a> “death cross” in a warning to bulls.<\/p>\n Related:\u00a0Why is Bitcoin price up today?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n For Cointelegraph contributor Micha\u00ebl van de Poppe, however, there was reason not to pay too much attention to the phenomenon following the 2022 bear market.<\/p>\n “The Death Cross only takes place based on historical price events,” he told<\/a> Twitter followers on Feb. 15.<\/p>\n “The entire bear market of the past year, that’s finally coming into that cross. Best thing to do with such a thing is to long instead of short.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Fellow trader Crypto Tony summarized the mood among more conservative market participants.<\/p>\n In an update after the latest local highs, he argued that much depended on Bitcoin’s behavior around $25,000.<\/p>\n “My main target on this 5th wave is $25,000 as this is also the prior untapped swing high,” he explained alongside a chart. <\/p>\n “From here we will get more of a understanding whether we are indeed in a flat bearish correction, or if this is the start of something more exciting.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors\u2019 alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/s3.cointelegraph.com\/uploads\/2023-02\/c6663323-0566-4086-b6b7-7d7ad792f27b.png\")
Hot U.S. PPI data “rattles” markets<\/h2>\n
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What’s in a death cross<\/h2>\n
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