Bitcoin Weekly (12/19/2022)

Bitcoin Weekly - Edition 38

"Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus"... Well maybe not! With a "Santa Rally" off the table it is hard to imagine how much worse things can get. 

Bitcoin (BTC) has a pattern this year that is virtually unmistakable, drops hard on bad news, and then trades sideways until the next set of bad news. The problem with this pattern in 2022 is that there has been virtually no good news to drive the largest cryptocurrency higher. Even if there is some good news, investors see risk assets in such a negative light they likely wouldn't drive up the price anyway.

Last week it was the Federal Reserve that sent BTC lower. In what looked like some good economic news to start the week, lower CPI data and a lower rate hike by the Fed, Chairman Jerome Powell put a quick damper on things lowering their growth forecasts for 2023 and indicating that they could raise interest rates further than they had previously stated. The gloomy statements sent all markets downward and Bitcoin was no exception. Thanks for the kick to the head Jerome!

The next set of figures to look at to determine how the Fed might act in 2023 are the gross domestic product (GDP) numbers. The problem with these is that unless that drop dramatically, which could mean a deepening recession, the Fed is likely to keep raising interest rates to slow down inflation.

Technically, Fibonacci retracement levels should be at support now but I'm beginning to wonder more and more if looking at the current bear market through the lens of past cycles is fruitless. Never has Bitcoin been in a bear market when the global economy was also in a bear market, so to expect it to behave the same way in terms of time length, losses from a percentage standpoint, and technical analysis likely doesn't hold up this time. Most charts, regardless of the market, have shown a downward stair pattern this year. There have been four fairly dramatic steps down, followed by periods of sideways action, and I suspect another step down is likely driving markets lower. This is especially true for risk assets like crypto.

The Crypto fear and greed index highlighted below, is at 29 and up two points from last week and remaining in the "fear" range for the fourth consecutive week.

Ten Must-Read Bitcoin Articles This Week

• Record-breaking Bitcoin whale selloff, 280k BTC offloaded in 30 days (CryptoSlate)

• Grayscale Will Explore Returning Portion of Investor Capital if SEC Refuses Spot Bitcoin ETF (Yahoo Finance)

• Machine learning algorithm sets Bitcoin price for January 1, 2023 (Finbold)

• Nigeria Looking To Legalize Bitcoin Usage (Bitcoin Magazine)

• Bitcoin Mining Stocks Could Start 2023 Rough Before Rebounding (ETF Trends)

• Foundation Devices raises $7M for Passport, a ‘truly air gapped’ Bitcoin hardware wallet (Fortune)

• Why Countries Should Embrace Bitcoin Instead Of Their Own Central Bank Digital Currency (Forbes)

• Whales Accumulate $726 Million In Bitcoin, Report Shows (NewsBTC)

• Bitcoin: the Digital Gold – Positives for 2023 (Investing.com)

• The Dangers Of Paper Bitcoin (Bitcoin Magazine)

Bitcoin Price Statistics (as of 12/18/2022, weekly close)

• Bitcoin Price = $16,741

• Last Week = $17,093

• Weekly High = $18,320

• Weekly Low = $16,650

• Market Cap = $320,495,037,529

• Market Cap Dominance =38.315%

• All-Time High = $69,044.67 on November 10, 2021

statistics provided by CoinGecko

Bitcoin Fun Fact of the Week

Five years ago, on December 17 of 2017, Bitcoin was priced at $19,188 - let that sink in. Depressing isn't it...

Bitcoin Mining Statistics

• Miners = 5,321,099

• Hashrate = 260,69. EH/s

• Difficulty = 35.36T

• Emission (24hr) = 993.8 BTC

• Circulating Supply = 19.24M (91.6%)

statistics provided by MiningPoolStats

Crypto Fear & Greed Index

index provided by Alternative

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized digital cryptocurrency.  Bitcoin was invented by the person or persons under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto as described in the Bitcoin Whitepaper released on October 31, 2008.  The original cryptocurrency began trading in January of 2009 and could be transferred in a peer-to-peer fashion implemented using open-source software.  The transactions are recorded and stored on a public ledger called a blockchain.  Only 21 million Bitcoins will ever be minted with one million being owned by its creator(s).

For more on Bitcoin, please read What is Bitcoin? [A comprehensive Guide to Understanding Bitcoin] on Publish0x written by Mr.CryptoWiki

For information on the Bitcoin white paper, please read I Finally Read the Bitcoin Whitepaper on Publish0x written by CryptoMasterMiner

Find Bitcoin on Bitcoin.org, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

* Where to Buy and HODL Bitcoin (Referral Links) *

• Coinbase (Get $10 in Bitcoin)

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* My Crypto Work *

• BOTZ - My Passive Income Generating NFTs (OpenSea link)

• Yield Farming - My Book on Amazon (paperback and eBook)

* Earn Free Crypto *

• Publish0x - earn crypto for reading and writing articles

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Thank you for reading Bitcoin Weekly!

Resources

1. https://www.investing.com/crypto/bitcoin/historical-data

2. https://ycharts.com/indicators/reports/bitcoin_statistics

3. https://studio.glassnode.com/metrics

4. https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/

5. https://miningpoolstats.stream/bitcoin

6. https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price

7. https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin

8. https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index/

9. https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCUSD/

10. https://coinlib.io/coin/BTC/Bitcoin

11. https://coincheckup.com/coins/bitcoin

12. https://cryptopanic.com/news/bitcoin/