Bears are becoming more active on the last day of the week, according to CoinMarketCap.

BTC/USD

The rate of Bitcoin (BTC) has increased by almost 2% since yesterday. Over the last week, the price has risen by 12.73%.

Despite today’s rise, the price of BTC remains bullish on the hourly chart. At the moment, it is near the local resistance level of $69,981.

If bulls can hold the gained initiative, there is a chance of a breakout followed by a move to the zone of $70,000 and above.

On the bigger time frame, one should pay attention to the daily closure in terms of the level of $69,210. If the candle closes above that mark and with no long wicks, the growth may lead to a new all-time high.

On the bigger time frame, there are also no reversal signals yet. If the weekly bar closes above the $69,000 mark, there is a high possibility of a test of the $70,000-$71,000 area next week.

Bitcoin is trading at $69,801 at press time.

On the other side, nevertheless, the NFP beat was somewhat offset by the unemployment rate jumping to 3.9%, against market expectations forecasting the rate to remain at 3.7%. Adding to this, average hourly earnings slowed to 0.1% on a month-over-month basis from 0.5% in January and cooled slightly to 4.3% year over year (from January’s 4.4% reading). Overall, February’s jobs numbers help reinforce the soft-landing narrative and bolster market expectations of the Fed stepping up and cutting rates in June (98bps of easing are now priced in for the year following the release of the jobs numbers, compared with around 93bps of cuts before).

Where We Are This Week

Stateside this week, markets welcome CPI and PPI inflation numbers on Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30 pm GMT, with the former regarded as the highlight event for many market participants. Retail sales data will also be released on Thursday at 12:30 pm GMT, followed by industrial production and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment data on Friday at 1:15 pm GMT and 2:00 pm GMT, respectively.

As of writing, economists estimate US CPI inflation to remain unchanged in the twelve months to February, matching January’s reading of 3.1% (the estimate range is currently between 3.1% and 3.0%). On a monthly basis, headline CPI is forecast to rise 0.4% versus the 0.3% rise in January. Any meaningful deviation to the downside in the data will likely weigh on the US Dollar Index (and trigger a dovish rate repricing) and perhaps see price visit daily support between 101.44 and 101.77.

Over in the UK, Tuesday’s wage numbers (7:00 am GMT) for the three months leading up to January will be widely watched, including those at the Bank of England (BoE). The prior release showed wages fell less than expected and illustrated sticky inflation. Headline wages dipped to 5.8% (expected: 5.6%; previous: 6.7%) in the three months to December 2023, and pay excluding bonuses fell to 6.2% (expected: 6.0%; previous: 6.7%).

Market consensus heading into this week’s event forecasts wages to remain elevated; the headline print is expected to cool slightly to 5.7% (prior: 5.8%), and pay excluding bonuses is forecast to remain unchanged at 6.2%. This event will be observed closely as any marked deviation between actual and consensus data could alter rate pricing (markets are still eyeing August’s policy meeting for the first 25bp rate cut) and have sway on GBP movement as a result.

G10 FX (5-Day Change)

Mike McGlone, senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, has taken to the Twitter/X social media network to share his thoughts on the performance of gold and Bitcoin versus each other and the S&P 500 Index this year, as well as to voice their prospects.

Gold may surpass Bitcoin this year, McGlone assumes

McGlone tweeted that in the first quarter this year, major stock index S&P 500, as well as gold and digital gold Bitcoin, have demonstrated record highs. Gold has reached a high of $2,171. As for Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency soared to a new historic peak of $69,200 and has rebounded to $67,750 by now.

In the volatility-adjusted race, McGlone says, the top 2024 macroeconomic risk, gold, may win “the performance medal.” Besides, the expert tweeted that thanks to the current drawn down of Bitcoin and gold, altcoins may gain momentum on the market.

Curiously, however, a week ago, McGlone tweeted that should Bitcoin continue rising and reach $70,000, it may “leave the metal looking naked in portfolios.” Despite China now rapidly accumulating gold now, investors are withdrawing funds from gold-based exchange-traded funds to move them into spot Bitcoin ETFs. The latter have been trading since Jan. 11, when they were approved after almost a decade of debates with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bitcoin to $300,000 in 2024: Robert Kiyosaki

Earlier this week, prominent entrepreneur in the sphere of finance management education Robert Kiyosaki and the author of the classic book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” tweeted a stunning prediction, as he expects Bitcoin to skyrocket to the $300,000 price mark later this year.

After Bitcoin hit a new historic peak, Kiyosaki tweeted that BTC was “on fire” and shared his expectations of it reaching $300,000 as the “next stop” in 2024. Earlier, he tweeted about the approaching halvening as a key event, which is likely to propel the Bitcoin price up significantly.

The halving event is expected in late April (with 41 days left to go, according to the CoinMarketCap meter) and it will reduce the rewards obtained by miners per each new block by half – from the current 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Therefore, the overall daily amount of minted Bitcoin will drop from 900 to 450 BTC after the halving.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Tuesday: Japan
  PPI, UK Labour Market report, US NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, US
  CPI.
• Wednesday: UK GDP,
  UK Industrial Production, Eurozone Industrial Production.
• Thursday: US
  PPI, US Retail Sales, US Jobless Claims, New Zealand Manufacturing PMI.
• Friday: US
  Industrial Production, US University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment
  Survey, PBoC MLF.

Tuesday

The UK Unemployment Rate is expected to
remain unchanged at 3.8% vs. 3.8% prior.
The Average Earnings Ex-Bonus is expected to tick lower to 5.7% vs. 5.8% prior,
while the Average Earnings including Bonus is seen at 6.2% vs. 6.2% prior. Weak
figures, especially on the wage growth part, should bring expectations for rate
cuts forward, while strong data might not change much for now. The markets
expect the BoE to deliver the first rate cut in August.

The US CPI Y/Y is expected at 3.1% vs.
3.1% prior,
while the M/M measure is seen at 0.4% vs. 0.3% prior. The Core CPI Y/Y is
expected at 3.7% vs. 3.9% prior, while the M/M figure is seen at 0.3% vs. 0.4%
prior. This report comes after a series of weak US data, especially on the
labour market side, so (in my opinion) this particular release is likely to be
faded in case of a hawkish reaction to a beat. Conversely, if the data misses,
we should see the market price back in a May rate cut.

Thursday

The US PPI Y/Y is expected at 1.2% vs.
0.9% prior,
while the M/M measure is seen at 0.3% vs. 0.3% prior. The Core PPI Y/Y is
expected at 2.0% vs. 2.0% prior, while the M/M figure is seen at 0.2% vs. 0.5%
prior. As mentioned for the CPI report, the market might look through a beat in
the data considering the weaker data from the labour market and the ISM PMIs.

The US Retail Sales M/M is expected at
0.7% vs. -0.8% prior, while the Ex-Autos M/M measure is seen at 0.4% vs. -0.6%
prior. The last
report surprised to the downside across the
board, although some weakness was expected due to negative weather conditions.
Another weak report would add to dovish expectations.

The US Jobless Claims continue to be one
of the most important releases every week as it’s a timelier indicator on the
state of the labour market. Initial Claims keep on hovering around cycle lows,
while Continuing Claims remain firm around cycle highs. This week the consensus
sees Initial Claims at 218K vs. 217K prior,
while there’s no consensus for Continuing Claims at the time of writing
although the prior week saw an increase to 1906K vs. 1889K prior.

Friday

The PBoC is expected to keep the MLF rate
unchanged at 2.50%. The central bank recently delivered two bigger than
expected cuts to its RRR
rate and the 5-year LPR
rate. This weekend the Chinese
Inflation data beat expectations across the
board by a big margin with the Headline Y/Y reading jumping to 1.0% and the
Core Y/Y measure to 1.2%. The PBoC might not feel the urgency to cut rates
further at the moment.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has seen a skyrocketing increase in weekly burn rate, rising by 6,478%. This dramatic growth occurs as the burn rate of SHIB tokens explodes, igniting a frenzy of investor interest and catapulting the dog-themed token into the spotlight of the cryptocurrency market.

According to the Shibburn X account, the past seven days have seen a total of 14,238,113,469 SHIB tokens burned, marking a 6,478.69% increase in the weekly burn rate.

Albeit, the daily burn rate decreased, with only 68,972,347 SHIB tokens burned in 10 transactions for the past day.

Contributing to the jump in weekly burn rate was a total of 13.6 (13,610,153,841) billion SHIB burned on the day before the last.

The massive 13.6 billion SHIB stash comes as the SHIB team burned massive amounts of SHIB, BONE and LEASH in four transactions over the weekend.

Two transactions burned 9,649,108,480 SHIB and 3,814,893,910 SHIB, while another two transactions burned 19,550 BONE and 28,762 LEASH.

Shiba Inu epic week

Shiba Inu just had a phenomenal week, skyrocketing by nearly 300% to highs of $0.00004575. Shiba Inu posted its second consecutive week of significant gains after beginning a comeback from lows of $0.00002375 on Feb. 26.

Shiba Inu has also reentered the top 10, with a market valuation of $20.74 billion, ranking as the 10th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

According to IntoTheBlock, Shiba Inu kicked off March with a bang, attracting over 8,400 addresses to peak at 21,000 daily new addresses, about 20 times the daily average in February. Shiba Inu’s total addresses have also hit a new record at 3.88 million.

At the time of writing, SHIB was down 1.42% in the last 24 hours to $0.000035. If SHIB successfully holds above this level, the next target for SHIB is the $0.00004 to $0.000045 level, where 29,260 addresses bought 3.48 trillion SHIB at an average price of $0.000042, according to IntoTheBlock data.

Significantly, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) saw higher net inflows. IBIT saw net inflows increase from $2,050.5 million to $2,070.6 million in the week ending March 8. FBTC saw net inflows surge from $708.6 million to $1,339.6 million.

Higher Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) net outflows left total market inflows short of the weekly high of $2,271 million recorded in the week ending February 16. GBTC outflows increased from $1,455.7 million to $1,654.4 million. The markets attributed the GBTC outflows to the court ruling, allowing Genesis Global Hold Co to liquidate approximately $1,300 million of GBTC shares.

ETFStore President Nate Geraci shared his views on the BTC-spot ETF market on Saturday, saying,

“iShares Bitcoin ETF has eclipsed $10bil net inflows… That’s net inflows in 40-days. Pulling down avg of $250mil/day. Now at $13.6bil AUM. For context, ARK Invest has about $16.5bil in total assets. Firm launched in 2014.”

iShares Bitcoin Trust Flips MicroStrategy on BTC Holdings

Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas shared a post from Fred Krueger, saying,

“All this was bound to happen, but not in eight weeks. Scary fast.”