Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 22, 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
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
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
×