Is Bitcoin Nearing a Price Bottom?
  The latest moves in crypto markets, in context Edited by Omkar Godbole January 11, 2022 Sponsored by  If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.
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Market Moves Bitcoin and the broader crypto market remains depressed, with "hopium" – crypto slang for hopes of a quick recovery and a continued bull run – fading. The rocket emojis are gone and the crypto Twitter is no longer trending the phrase "buy the dip."
To many, that's a sign of the market nearing a significant price bottom. "My feed is full of people calling for bitcoin at $30,000, $20,000, $11,000 etc. I've seen this before and it usually means only one thing: we're going higher," Mike Alfred, value investor and CEO at BrightScope and Digital Assets Data, tweeted.
On the cryptocurrency's daily candle chart, the long lower wick – tracing the extent of the day's price movements – does indicate seller exhaustion, and the ever-strengthening Fed rate hike expectations may have opened the doors for a significant bounce.
"All they're doing here is playing the market by manufacturing a new put," Sven Henrich, the analyst behind northmantrader.com, tweeted. "By sharply increasing rate hike expectations now, every time inflation data surprises to the downside, it sets up for a relief rally as it kicks aggressive rate hike expectations further down the road."
The official data due for release at 13:30 UTC on Wednesday is expected to show the cost of living in the world's largest economy rose to an annualized 7%.
A big miss on expectations could see markets push out the timing of the first-rate hike back to the third quarter, thereby putting a bid under bitcoin and other asset prices.
As of now, several Wall Street Several banks see four rate increases this year. A couple of Fed officials have recently said that a hike in March could be feasible. In the past five months, the Fed has gone from signaling no rate hikes in 2022 to penciling in three hikes, planning a wind-down of its asset-purchasing program by March and even hinting at an eventual balance sheet contraction.
Bitcoin has dropped nearly 40% since hitting record highs near $69,000 on Nov. 10. All this could suggest that peak Fed hawkishness has been priced in.
Crypto stocks slide  Chart showing a decline in shares of crypto and blockchain-related companies (Skew) Bitcoin's price slide has brought pain for digital assets and blockchain-related stocks, most of which have taken an even bigger hit. Shares of crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) have been an outlier, losing less than bitcoin.
"Some institutions use crypto equities as a proxy for crypto itself," Mike Alfred, a value investor and CEO at BrightScope and Digital Assets Data, told CoinDesk in a Telegram chat. "It's easier for hedge funds to buy COIN than it is for them to hold BTC directly for various reasons."
Olympus tanks, cosmos, near rally OHM, the native coin of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Olympus, slipped 30% to $161 early Tuesday, reaching lows previously seen in May 21. Analysts told CoinDesk that a popular pool to leverage returns on OHM tokens saw overnight liquidations which contributed to the price drop.
Interoperability platform Cosmos' ATOM token rose 2% while programmable blockchain Near protocol's NEAR coin rallied 18%.
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Crypto Prices Bitcoin (BTC) See the latest price here Ether (ETH) See the latest price here The following are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 digital assets over the past 24 hours: Biggest Gainers:
Biggest Losers:
Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive, and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges.
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A breakout would expose the lower high of $6.84 created in October.
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.
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