Crypto tastes terrible

A fuel glitch and rainy weather scrubbed a NASA mega-rocket launch set for earlier today. Crypto markets don't seem to be going anywhere. Blame morose messaging this past Friday from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell whose blunt remarks in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, snuffed out hopes central planners would scuttle plans for more aggressive hike rates.

Instead, Powell clearly stated there could be “some pain” ahead as the Fed sticks to its guns combating high inflation.

Rising noticeably today is the dollar index which hit 109.478 (versus a basket of other currencies), its highest level since September of 2002 (CNBC).

On a day that began terribly, with Bitcoin sub-$20K, the largest crypto actually seemed poised to get back to that level, turning slightly green over 24 hours as of 9:50 a.m. (EST).

The psychologically crucial $1 trillion mark couldn't hold over the weekend with total crypto assets falling in the wake of creepy Jackson Hole utterances.

As of this final Monday of August, as of 8 a.m. (EST), Bitcoin was hugging $20K good-bye, shedding a tear – and shed 2% of its valuation compared to 24 hours prior. Ethereum had lost 4% as of that time. ETH was down 11% over the past week.

Stocks seemed cruising for a bruising as of the open. Worries about tighter monetary policy are not abating. In pre-market trading, S&P 500 futures fell 1%.

Bitcoin, originally created as an altcoin to the fiat dollar, wilted after the Fed reiterated it would continue to tighten money supply. Battered by macro headwinds once thought to be irrelevant, BTC has lost 8% since last Monday. It's down more than 50% since the start of the year and remains 70% off of its ATH (just above $69,000, per CoinGecko) hit in November 2021.

Pouring it on thick, curmudgeonly gold bug/BTC basher Peter Schiff insists BTC may not be able to reclaim $20K; Schiff believes that right now there are more sellers below that key level compared to buyers, and he can point to a Twitter poll (his own) suggesting, indeed, sellers hold slightly more sway, prompting his son, Spencer, to chastise his BTC-price-fixated dad as suffering from a type of derangement syndrome (UToday).

Sure, the largest crypto re-testing $19,000 seemed “inevitable,” said the widely followed crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe. Ultimately, it could turn out that BTC merely notches a higher low in terms of its 200-week moving average.

According to van de Poppe, per Benzinga, those naysayers waiting for $14K BTC are unlikely to see it.