Bitcoin Stumbles Below $31K Ahead of FOMC Meeting Minutes

Bitcoin price has been holding steady above the crucial level of $30,000 for the past few days as investors await the FOMC meeting minutes for June. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading more than 1% lower at $30,429.40 after flirting with the important level of $31K for a few days. BTC’s total market cap has slipped to $591 billion over the last day, with the total volume of the asset dropping by 8% to $13 billion.

Fundamentals

Bitcoin price has been hovering around its multi-month high of $31,430 for the past few days before stumbling lower later on Tuesday. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has been in the red for two consecutive days ahead of the Fed’s meeting minutes for June. The asset’s pullback has seen most cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, inch lower.

The global crypto market cap decreased by more than 2% on Wednesday to $1.19 trillion, while the total crypto market volume remained almost unchanged. Bitcoin’s dominance has increased slightly to 49.77% over the past 24 hours. Even with the shallow pullback in the crypto market, market sentiment indicates that investors have renewed their confidence in the industry.

The Fear and Greed Index, which is used to measure the emotions driving the market, shows that greed has taken over the market as investors get too confident in the crypto market. Over the past week, the greed index has climbed consistently above 50 to the current greed level of 63. The shift in the crypto market sentiment has been buoyed by the exponential increase in the institutional accumulation of Bitcoin and bullish on-chain metrics.

The US Federal Reserve meeting minutes for June are set to be released later in the day, giving investors a chance to hound for clues about the central bank’s interest rate path. The Fed announced a reprieve in its fund rate hike for June but signaled the likelihood of further hikes this year. Markets are pricing in an 88% chance of another hike in the Fed’s July meeting. An environment of higher interest rates will be bearish for cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin Price Outlook

The daily chart shows that the Bitcoin price has been in the red for the past two consecutive days as macroeconomic concerns intensify. Even so, BTC has remained above the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages, with the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) pointing to a bullish trajectory. Its Relative Strength Index (RSI) has dropped slightly to 61.

Therefore, the Bitcoin price is likely to fall further in the ensuing sessions before a price reversal to the upside. Even so, I expect the BTC price to remain above the crucial $30,000 level during this period. A move below the support level at $29,588.85 will lead to more downside.

BTC Price Chart