Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Aug 02, 2025

Bitcoin Dips Below $40K as ‘Death Cross’ Looms on Price Charts

Bitcoin Dips Below $40K as ‘Death Cross’ Looms on Price Charts

The past record of the “Death Cross” as an indicator of deeper drawdowns is mixed.
They call it bitcoin’s “death cross” – a bearish indicator that appears when the 50-day moving average (MA) dips below the 200-day MA.

The ominously named chart pattern looks set to be confirmed this week amid mounting concerns of faster liquidity withdrawal by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), a bearish development for bitcoin and asset prices in general.

On Monday, the bitcoin (BTC) price dipped briefly below $40,000 for the first time since September. As of press time, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap was changing hands at $40,834, based on CoinDesk pricing, down 12% so far in 2022, one of bitcoin’s worst-ever starts to a year.

Goldman Sachs foresees the Fed raising borrowing costs at least four times by the end of 2022, versus its previous prediction of three rate hikes, according to Bloomberg. The investment banking giant also expects the central bank to downsize its balance sheet from July.

Friday’s U.S. labor market report, which showed that unemployment rate dipped to 3.9%, has strengthened the case for the Fed to hike rates concurrently with the end of asset purchases in March. According to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, investors were pricing a 73% probability of a 25 basis point rate hike in March, up from 61% last week.

Fears of a hawkish Fed gripped the bitcoin market toward the end of last quarter after the central bank shifted its focus to inflation control from maximum employment. In December, the Fed announced at least three rate hikes by the end of 2022 and an end of the asset purchase program by March.

Bitcoin peaked near $69,000 on Nov. 10 and has declined by nearly 40% since. The cryptocurrency slipped over 12% in the last seven days to Jan. 9, registering its biggest weekly drop since early December. The impending death cross, coupled with the souring macro outlook, may bolster overall bearish sentiment.

That said, the technical indicator’s past record as a predictor of bear markets is mixed. According to research by Kraken, many of bitcoin’s previous death crosses, including those seen in 2014 and 2018, coincided with “either a sell-off in the days that followed or a continued macro downtrend that confirmed a bear market.”

However, death crosses witnessed last June, late March 2020 and October 2019 were bear traps, or false signals that marked major price bottoms. The consolidation seen after the mid-June death cross resolved in a fresh bull run, as seen in the featured image.

Moving average crossovers are unreliable as standalone indicators, given they are based on backward-looking data and tend to lag prices. The market is often oversold and due for a bounce by the time the crossover is confirmed, as was the case in June last year and late March 2020.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
×