A snap unemployment report sparks an instant risk asset sell-off, with BTC price action staying below $20,000 since.
Bitcoin (BTC) stayed near the lower end of its trading range into Oct. 8 after bulls failed to recoup macro-induced losses.
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$20,000 disappears into weekend
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD circling $19,500 at the time of writing.
Lows of $19,340 appeared on Bitstamp the day prior before consolidation began.
The pair had seen a swift, if predictable, downside accompanying the United States unemployment numbers, where crypto markets copied equities while the U.S. dollar gained.
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Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, described the unemployment rate as “way lower than expected.”
“This week economic’s data was conflicting,” he continued:
“Positive in the last part of the week with unemployment dropping from 3.7% to 3.5%, while earlier this week job openings and PMI data came in badly. Eyes now focused on earnings season, PPI and CPI coming week.”
On-chain analytics resource Material Indicators, meanwhile, noted the ongoing importance of Bitcoin’s 50-day moving average (MA) as resistance.
Currently, at just under $20,000, the 50MA was also joined by the 21MA after the unemployment data release, the latter subsequently being reclaimed.
“This week, Bitcoin had 4 consecutive rejections from the 50-Day MA, and on today’s positive U.S. Unemployment Report, bulls gave back the R/S flips $20k, the 2017 Top and the 21-Day MA,” Material Indicators summarized.
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Liquidations mount as market burns longs
As a result of the snap return to volatility, meanwhile, BTC long traders suffered almost $23 million in liquidations on Oct. 7.
Related: BTC price still not at ‘max pain’ — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week
Cross-crypto total long liquidations on the day were almost $63 million, data from Coinglass confirmed, with shorters adding another $19.5 million to the tally.
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Last week, Cointelegraph reported on the significance of $19,000 as the current range floor zone, a significant violation of which, analysis feared, would result in a much larger unwinding.
Whale buy and sell levels were thus key, analytics platform Whalemap concluded, with a potential downside price target of $12,500 in play should support fail.
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