Bitcoin slipped below $94,000 at the Wall Street open on Dec. 23, as bulls struggled to gain momentum with the return of traditional finance markets.

Data from TradingView showed a 1.2% daily loss for BTC/USD at the time of writing.

After a weekend rally to $99,500 was thwarted by sellers, Bitcoin failed to recover, extending its decline from last week’s all-time highs to 15%.

Summarizing the short-term outlook, the popular X analytics account Bitcoindata21 cautioned about bearish support/resistance flips.

“Underside retests and rejections of VWAPs are NOT what you want to see for bullish price action,” they noted, referencing volume-weighted average price points, adding:

“A retest of 92k for bitcoin looks likely. As of right now 85-86k looks like the 'back up the truck' area to go all in, for bulls.”

Similarly, trader CrypNuevo predicted a return to lower levels before any significant rebound, focusing on previous lows near $90,000, which were briefly tested earlier in December.

“Now, I still think that we could revisit the lows,” CrypNuevo wrote in an X thread discussing short-term price action, adding:

“It’s hard to imagine that we’re going to get a V shape recovery from here. I’m leaning more towards either a W formation or a 100% of the wick fill. Ideally, the 100% wick-fill, since $90k is a strong psychological level.”

Even those with a more optimistic outlook acknowledged the possibility of new lows.

Trader Jelle compared the current BTC price action to patterns observed at the end of 2023.

“Too many similarities between this and last year to ignore this fractal,” Jelle commented in an X post, continuing;

“Not ruling out a sweep below $90k somewhere this week, leaving some bids down there just in case. Resume up only in 2025.”

With the holiday season nearing, macroeconomic sentiment remained fragile following last week’s hawkish policy update from the Federal Reserve.

Expectations for interest rate cuts in 2025 diminished further. According to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting has only an 8.6% chance of delivering a rate cut.

“As inflation rebounds, the pivot is at risk,” noted The Kobeissi Letter on X, highlighting concerns that other central banks cutting rates in 2024 may not indicate a similar move from the Fed.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-extends-losses-traders-sub-90k-btc-price-support

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCUSD/?exchange=BINANCE

https://x.com/bitcoindata21/status/1871205475909357927

https://x.com/CrypNuevo/status/1870845730702995558

https://x.com/CryptoJelleNL/status/1871202865554858226

https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1870918676616015874