Bitcoin battles hot US PPI as trader warns crypto ‘positioned for lower’

Bitcoin (BTC) battled fresh US inflation pressures at the Feb. 13 Wall Street open as macroeconomic data disappointed bulls.

Bitcoin sell pressure “not significant” despite hot PPI

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed traders battling for control after the January Producer Price Index (PPI) print came in hot.

Copying the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures from the day prior, PPI beat expectations, further denting hopes for financial policy easing.

PPI came in at 0.4% and 3.5% month-on-month and year-on-year, respectively, higher than the anticipated 0.3% and 3.2%.

Markets, already primed for undesirable results, maintained low odds of the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates in the first half of the year. The latest estimates from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool saw just a 2.5% of a 0.25% cut at the Fed’s next meeting in March.

Reacting, popular trader Skew revealed a struggle between buyers and sellers playing out on major global exchange Binance.

“Likely the same buyer from earlier has bought into this sell pressure,” he wrote in part of his latest analysis on X.

“Market is net positioned for lower so if the market is to move up here we want to see supportive flows.”

Skew described overall sell-side pressure as “currently not significant.”

“Sell volume longs still puking under price pressure,” he reported.

Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass showed strengthening buyer liquidity around $95,000, with $97,000 now forming the nearest band of resistance.

Looking to the upside, fellow trader Castillo Trading anticipated an eventual retest of the area around $104,000 — the point of control, or PoC, on the BitMEX Bitcoin futures market.

“Patience for high probability setups during this chop,” he summarized.

Crypto eyes Trump reaction

Continuing, trading firm QCP Capital argued that market momentum would depend on how US President Donald Trump would handle the resurgent inflation markers.

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The Fed and Chair Jerome Powell, it noted, were hawkish in their stance on the economy, with Trump conversely demanding that interest rates come down.

“Looking at the bigger picture, the market is likely waiting for Trump’s reaction to the higher CPI print,” it wrote in its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers. 

“Will he continue to argue that the Fed should cut rates further this year, or will he give them the leeway to remain data-dependent? With his soft-landing legacy at stake, we expect Fed Chair Powell to remain conservative and maintain his stance of being data-dependent before moving to cut rates.”

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.