Fresh Wave of Selling

You’ve got to feel sorry for bitcoin bulls. After months of sideways action hopes of a rally were dashed as the leading digital coin broke down to fresh 2022 lows again this week. Now trading at its lowest levels since December 2020, BTC has dropped by roughly 65% this year and looks vulnerable to further weakness over the remaining weeks of the year. BTC wasn’t alone in the sell off wither, we’ve seen similar heavy losses across the board in other leading cryptos such as ETH and LTC.

FTX In Trouble 

The driver behind the more than $1 billion liquidation we’ve seen across the crypto-sphere this week looks to be news that FTX will be acquired by Binance. Market chatter that crypto exchange FTX was on the brink of insolvency saw huge capital outflows from the company within a 24 period. While the FTX CEO claimed the rumours were false, accusing rival Binance CEO Zhang of fuelling the story, the situation continued to spiral. Ultimately, Binance announced that it would acquire the faltering company, backstopping its investors and clients.

However, the story has raised fears of further such events as crypto prices and retail interest continue to fall. Coinbase’s Q3 earnings were a major cause of concern last week with the company’s revenues having fallen by around two-thirds from its peak and the so-called ‘crypto winter’ showing no signs of thawing yet.

Technical Views

BTC

The sell-off in BTC this week has seen the asset breaking down to fresh 2022 lows below the 18545 level. Price is currently finding support into the falling wedge support trend line, ahead of the 1660 level and with strong bullish divergence on momentum studies it’s worth noting reversal risks here.