A snap unemployment report sparks an instant risk asset sell-off, with BTC price action staying below $20,000 since.
Bitcoin (BTC) stayed near the lower end of its trading range into Oct. 8 after bulls failed to recoup macro-induced losses.
$20,000 disappears into weekend
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD circling $19,500 at the time of writing.
Lows of $19,340 appeared on Bitstamp the day prior before consolidation began.
The pair had seen swift, if predictable, downside accompany United States unemployment numbers, crypto markets copying equities while the U.S. dollar gained.
Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, described the unemployment rate as “way lower than expected.”
“This week economic's data was conflicting,” he continued.
“Positive in the last part of the week with unemployment dropping from 3.7% to 3.5%, while earlier this week job openings and PMI data came in badly. Eyes now focused on earnings season, PPI and CPI coming week.”
On-chain analytics resource Material Indicators meanwhile noted the ongoing importance of Bitcoin’s 50-day moving average (MA) as resistance.
Currently at just under $20,000, the 50MA was also joined by the 21MA after the unemployment data release, the latter subsequently being reclaimed.
“This week, Bitcoin had 4 consecutive rejections from the 50-Day MA, and on today's positive U.S. Unemployment Report, bulls gave back the R/S flips $20k, the 2017 Top and the 21-Day MA,” Material Indicators summarized.
Liquidations mount as market burns longs
As a result of the snap return to volatility, meanwhile, BTC long traders suffered almost $23 million in liquidations on Oct. 7.
Related: BTC price still not at ‘max pain’ — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week
Cross-crypto total long liquidations on the day were almost $63 million, data from Coinglass confirmed, with shorters adding another $19.5 million to the tally.
Last week, Cointelegraph reported on the significance of $19,000 as the current range floor zone, a significant violation of which, analysis feared, would result in a much larger unwinding.
Whale buy and sell levels were thus key, analytics platform Whalemap concluded, with a potential downside price target of $12,500 in play should support fail.
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