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(Kitco News) – Financial markets started Friday out on a positive note but turned negative as the day progressed and Republicans holdouts in the U.S. House rejected a bill proposed by their leader to temporarily fund the government, all but assuring that federal agencies will partially shut down beginning on Sunday.
Stocks traded mixed amid concerns about the shutdown despite the fact that August Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data showed that “core” PCE pulled back to 3.9% on the year, down from 4.2% in July, representing the lowest reading in almost three years.
At the market close, the S&P and Dow finished in the red, down 0.27% and 0.47%, respectively, while the Nasdaq gained 0.14%. The mixed close brought an end to a rough month of September for the markets which saw the major indexes decline between 3% and 5%.
Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) also fell under pressure near midday after trading near $27,200 throughout the morning. An afternoon sell-off saw the top crypto sink to a low of $26,660 before dip buyers pushed it back above $26,900.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
“October Bitcoin futures prices [were] near steady in early U.S. trading Friday, after posting solid gains Thursday,” said Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff.
Bitcoin futures 1-day chart. Source: Kitco
“The bulls are now working on a fledgling price uptrend on the daily chart and have some momentum on their side,” Wyckoff said. “More price gains in the near term would give the bulls better technical strength to better suggest a near-term price bottom is in place.”
However, according to Cubic Analytics founder Caleb Franzen, Bitcoin could continue to struggle in the near term as the 200-day moving average cloud, which has been an “effective dynamic support/resistance range throughout BTC’s history,” is “threatening to act as resistance, once again.”
BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Twitter
Combining this data with Bitcoin’s short-term holder realized price – which is currently at $27,720 – Franzen said, “There’s confluence for resistance in the mid-$27k range for BTC to experience short-term downside pressure. If we can manage to achieve a breakout, that’s a bullish sign.”
Market analyst Rekt Capital also noted the potential for weakness in Bitcoin through the remainder of the year, but said, “The next 140 days may present the last EVER opportunity to buy in the low or even sub-$20,000s.”
At this stage, all you can do is try your best to make the most of any downside in the coming months so as to position yourself favourably for the 500+ days of parabolic uptrending after the Halving$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/wE1SiImtN9
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) September 29, 2023
In a follow-up post, Rekt Capital noted that the “Bitcoin Halving is in April 2024,” and said the “Next Bull Market peak could occur 518-546 days after the halving,” which means “Bitcoin could peak in mid-September 2025 or mid-October 2025.”
Bitcoin analyst TraderJ also warned about more near-term downside after the appearance of a bearish cross on the 1-day chart.
Bearish Environment isn’t over yet IMO,
Ignore this tweet if you hate Money. $BTC pic.twitter.com/EfHYWLnWbj— Trader_J (@Trader_Jibon) September 29, 2023
Altcoins close the week mixed
The altcoin market ended the business week mixed, with the top 200 tokens evenly split between winners and losers.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Just (JST) led the gainers with an increase of 22.1%, while Storj (STORJ) climbed 11.75%, and Pepe (PEPE) gained 8.4%. Biconomy (BICO), the top gainer from Thursday, led the losers on Friday with a decline of 18.6%, followed by a loss of 6.56% for Terra (LUNA).
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.08 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 48.8%.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
