ETHEREUM-MERGE

August’s nonfarm payrolls data offered some relief to traders as the economy added 315,000 jobs for the month, well below the 526,000 in July. It was the lowest monthly gain since April 2021, increasing hopes that the data leaves some scope for the Federal Reserve to soften its aggressive tightening policy. The CME FedWatch Tool showed a 60% probability of a 75 basis points rate hike for the September 21 meeting, down from 75% on August 29.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average initially rallied by 370 points following the jobs report but it later trimmed its gains and closed down by 337.98 points. The Nasdaq Composite extended its losing streak to six consecutive days for the first time since 2019.

Along with the weakness in the United States equities markets, the macroeconomic situation worsened further as Russia halted gas supply to Europe. This stoked fears of an energy crisis and pulled the euro to a 20-year low versus the US dollar. The US dollar index, which is usually inversely correlated to Bitcoin, rose to a two-decade high above 110.

A minor positive among the slew of negative news is that Bitcoin bulls have managed to hold on to the $20,000 mark for the past few days. That could be because several investors have not panicked in the ongoing bear market and are holding their positions. Glassnode data on September 5 showed that 65.781% of wallets have held Bitcoin for a year or more.

For the next few days, the crypto markets are likely to shift focus to Ethereum’s Merge, which is expected to happen on September 15. Data from Ethernodes showed that 72.8% of Ethereum nodes were “Merge ready” before the Bellatrix upgrade scheduled for September 6. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and core developer Tim Beiko have appealed to the remaining node operators to update before the Bellatrix upgrade else the clients will “sync to the pre-fork blockchain” and will “be unable to send Ether or operate on the post-Merge Ethereum network.”

How will the crypto markets react to Ethereum’s upgrade? What do the charts suggest? Read our analysis of the major cryptocurrencies to find out.

BTC/USD Market Analysis

BTC/USD

Bitcoin has been trading inside a tight range between $19,500 and $20,715 for the past few days. The failure to push the price back above $20,715 indicates that bears are trying to flip this level into resistance.

The downsloping 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) and the relative strength index (RSI) in the negative territory indicate advantage to sellers.

If bears sink the price below $19,500, the selling could intensify and the BTC/USD pair could drop to the next support zone between $18,600 and $17,567.45. The bulls are expected to defend this zone aggressively because a failure to do so could signal the resumption of the downtrend. The pair could then slide to $16,764.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns up from the current level and breaks above $20,715, it will suggest that bulls are back in the game. That could push the price to the 50-day simple moving average (SMA). This level may again act as a resistance but if bulls overcome this barrier, the pair could rally to $24,666.

Hopefully, you have enjoyed today’s article for further coverage please check out our crypto Blog Page. Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day! Live from the Platinum Crypto Trading Floor.

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