The Bitcoin and crypto market are facing a “bullish vacuum” in the short term. In the wake of significantly lower-than-expected inflation numbers (CPI and PPI) and the much-anticipated pivot by the Federal Reserve in the US, the Bitcoin price was able to continue its bullish trend of the past few weeks and reached a new yearly high of $30,968 last Friday.
After the last few weeks were always jam-packed with important macro data, there are virtually no key data points in the upcoming two weeks. Only on May 03, this will change, when the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the US Federal Reserve is scheduled.
Thus, there is a bullish vacuum until early May, in which it seems likely that the entire crypto market and Bitcoin will continue their rally. Still, there are a few events that are likely to influence the market this week as well. As we do every week on Monday, we look at the most important dates.
This Will Be Crucial For Bitcoin And Crypto
On Tuesday, April 18, all eyes will turn to Washington D.C. when US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler will have to justify his regulation of the US bitcoin and crypto industry. As Bitcoinist reported, Patrick McHenry, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, has scheduled the hearing.
McHenry wants to scrutinize Gensler’s actions against the US crypto industry. In an interview, he said:
This will be our first oversight hearing of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This will be about his rulemaking and his approach to digital assets. It will have a large general oversight over the SEC. In terms of policy, [this will be] a serious approach in terms of us laying down […] a regulatory sphere for digital assets.
Gensler is likely to face harsh scrutiny. French Hill (Republican) and Warren Davidson (Republican) are two crypto supporters who chair the Digital Assets Subcommittee. Davidson is one of Gensler’s biggest critics and recently posted a tweet calling for “Fire Gary” to become a bipartisan movement.
On Thursday, April 20 at 8:30 am (EST), weekly data on initial jobless claims in the US are due. Last week’s numbers were again well above expectations. This week, 240,000 are projected, compared to 239,000 last week.
The slowly cooling US labor market already manifested itself with a much weaker than forecasted JOLTS jobs report as well as weak NFP labor market data in recent weeks. If the latest figures on initial jobless claims confirm this trend, it would be a further warning signal of a recession in the US.
Should the labor market stabilize again and unemployment claims stop rising for the time being, this would be positive for the crypto market. The looming recession could at least be pushed back a bit or could turn out to be less severe due to a still resilient labor market.
Third, investors should also keep an eye on the dollar index (DXY). The DXY is at a critical point and could provide support for a further uptrend in Bitcoin and crypto if it continues to fall. Analyst Scott Melker recently shared the chart below and stated:
2 months later, the right shoulder has formed and the neckline is being tested. Still just an idea, but if that black line breaks this would confirm and we should see sustained dollar weakness.
At press time, the Bitcoin price stood at $29,899.
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com
