Bitcoin traded between $78,060 and $78,500 on Tuesday morning, pulling back from last week's three-month high as stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data revived Federal Reserve rate-hike bets and rising oil prices added to inflation worries. Short-term sellers hold the edge, but bitcoin's longer-term technical trend remains intact.
Sellers Keep the Short-Term Edge
Bitcoin's price traded between $78,060 and $78,500 on Tuesday morning around 8 a.m. EDT. It had pulled back from the $80,537 area reached days earlier. The token last changed hands 1.1% lower at $78,577.5 by 09:06 ET, according to Investing.com.
Support sits between $78,170 and $78,193, while resistance stretches up toward $80,537. A sustained close below that support zone would invalidate the current bounce. Even so, the relative strength index reads 60, a neutral reading.
Fed Bets and Oil Prices Add Pressure
The pullback follows Friday's U.S. employment report, which showed employers added 162,000 jobs in August, almost triple economists' expectations, while unemployment held at 4.1%. As a result, the market-implied probability of a 25-basis-point Fed rate hike at the Sept. 16 meeting rose to around 60%, per CME FedWatch. Higher rates typically pressure risk assets like bitcoin by lifting the appeal of yield-bearing investments.
Oil has added another headwind: Brent crude rose above $98 a barrel, its highest in about six weeks, as escalating U.S.-Iran tensions raised concerns over supply disruptions. Despite the retreat, bitcoin remains well above its recent lows after gaining roughly 25% in August, and U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs logged about $1 billion in inflows last week, extending a three-week streak of positive flows.
Technicals Turn Lower, Altcoins Stay Muted
On the daily chart, bitcoin's rebound stalled inside a swing area between $80,560 and $82,833 toward the end of August, short of the 38.2% retracement at $83,916. On the hourly chart, the price dropped below its 200-hour moving average at $79,007, turning that level into resistance alongside the 100-hour moving average at $79,538. Staying below that cluster opens the door toward September and August lows near $76,229 and $75,568.
According to Glassnode: "BTC volatility is currently historically low." Meanwhile, most altcoins traded flat to lower: Ethereum fell 1% to $2,475.92, Solana eased nearly 2%, and Dogecoin shed 1.6%.
Sources: Bitcoin News, Investing.com, InvestingLive
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