Bitcoin price returns to $22K despite ‘least volatile’ US CPI reaction

Bitcoin (BTC) ticked above $22,000 after the Feb. 14 Wall Street open as crucial United States inflation data delivered “mixed” results.

BTC price hits 5-day highs on CPI

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it tested multi-week lows twice on hourly timeframes before reversing upward.

The pair saw flash volatility in line with predictions as January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers hit, something repeated at the start of trading on Wall Street.

Still within a tight trading range, however, Bitcoin’s reaction was in fact fairly muted, with up and down moves only involving several hundred dollars at a time.

That reflected the CPI data itself, which broadly conformed to market expectations. A moderate exception was year-on-year, which ran “hot” at 0.2% above the envisaged 6.2%.

“US inflation mixed,” markets commentator Holger Zschaepitz wrote in part of a social media reaction.

US inflation mixed. Jan CPI was inline w/St on MoM basis, coming in +0.5% headline & +0.4% core. On YoY basis, things ran bit hot, coming in +6.4% headline (down from +6.5% in Dec but ahead of St’s +6.2%) & +5.6% core (down from +5.7% but ahead of St’s +5.5%. (@knowledge_vital) pic.twitter.com/do5yNoEyIa

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) February 14, 2023

Crypto circles also noted the lack of panic, which accompanied crypto markets’ reaction.

“This looks to be one of the least volatile market reactions to US CPI since 2022,” Investment research resource Game of Trades commented.

With few cues coming from macro, Bitcoin traders thus looked to potential range highs and lows to determine future short-term price action.

“Tight daily range at the moment,” Crypto Chase summarized alongside an explanatory chart.

“I think we eventually interact with both red box and liquidity below. I’d be watching for shorts from red box and for longs after sweeping 20.3K liquidity.”

Fellow trader Skew added that whales had reduced long BTC exposure following the print.

$BTC Perp CVD Buckets & Delta Orders
Market is definitely bias to holding short positions.
Some whales reduced longs post CPI. pic.twitter.com/fogJG1XxkJ

— Skew Δ (@52kskew) February 14, 2023

Prior to that, monitoring resource Material Indicators had revealed whales setting up what it likened to a trap for retail investors.

#FireCharts shows #Bitcoin whales trying to lure retail in at higher levels ahead of the #CPI as purple whales sell into retail bid liquidity. Also note that the buy wall has returned to the $24.4k range in 2 levels. If the $6M up top gets hit, I expect the lower $18M to rug.#NFA pic.twitter.com/sG3O9IzXhC

— Material Indicators (@MI_Algos) February 14, 2023

DXY forms ongoing focus

On equities, a similarly lackluster response to CPI saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index both open flat.

Related: First weekly death cross ever — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

The U.S. dollar index (DXY), a keen focus for some in the run-up to a week of macro data releases, briefly spiked above 103.5 before returning to base.

“I said to keep an eye on DXY. It almost hit the green box and bounced. In case it starts moving higher, bearish for crypto imo,” popular trader Crypto Ed wrote in part of his latest Twitter updates.

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