Bitcoin price started a fresh decline below the $25,500 support. BTC is now at a risk of more losses toward the $24,000 support zone.

• Bitcoin is gaining bearish momentum below the $25,500 support.
• The price is trading below $25,500 and the 100 hourly Simple moving average.
• There was a break below a key rising channel with support near $25,800 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair could correct higher but upsides might be limited above $25,500.

Bitcoin Price Extends Decline

Bitcoin price failed to start a fresh increase above the $26,200 resistance zone. BTC failed to remain in a positive zone after the Fed interest rate decision and declined below the $25,500 support.

The price declined below the $25,400 support to trade to a new weekly low. Besides, there was a break below a key rising channel with support near $25,800 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. There was a move below the $25,000 support zone.

A low is formed near $24,818 and the price is now consolidating losses. It is trading near the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $26,063 swing high to the $24,818 low.

Bitcoin price is now trading below $25,500 and the 100 hourly Simple moving average. Immediate resistance is near the $25,200 level.

Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

The first major resistance is near the $25,500 level. It is close to the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $26,063 swing high to the $24,818 low. A clear move above the $25,500 resistance might start a fresh increase. The next major resistance is near the $26,000 level, above which the bulls might send BTC toward the $26,500 resistance zone.

More Losses in BTC?

If Bitcoin’s price fails to clear the $25,500 resistance, it could continue to move down. Immediate support on the downside is near the $24,800 level and the recent low.

The next major support is near the $24,500 level, below which the price might gain bearish momentum. In the stated case, the price could drop toward the $24,000 support in the near term.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is below the 50 level.

Major Support Levels – $24,800, followed by $24,500.

Major Resistance Levels – $25,200, $25,500, and $26,000.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen below the $25,000 mark for the first time since March 17 following a hawkish Fed announcement amidanother turbulent week for the crypto industry.

Within the span of 30 minutes on June 15, the price of Bitcoin fell 4% from $25,867 to $24,819 according to data from TradingView. At the time of publication Bitcoin has regained ground and is holding just above $25,000.

Over the past week Bitcoin had been holding around the $26,000 region as the market came to grips with the SEC’s legal action against crypto exchange heavyweights Coinbase and Binance as well as increasing macroeconomic uncertainty around interest rate signals from the United States Federal Reserve.

The sharp drop in price arrived roughly three hours after the Federal Reserve announced a pause on interest rate hikes, following a fifteen-month-long campaign of rate increases to combat surging inflation.

While the market was almost unanimously expecting a rate pause, the Federal Open Markets Committee statement hinted at further rate hikes in the future, which typically blunts investor excitement for risk assets like cryptocurrencies.

According to eToro Market Analyst Josh Gilbert, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has made it quite clear that this is only a temporary pause, something that could spell further trouble for Bitcoin in the long-term.

“Much of the positivity we’ve seen from risk assets this year, including Bitcoin, is built on the expectation that inflation will fall and interest rates will peak, and then begin to be cut,” Gilbert said.

Inflation is moving in the right direction but the comments from Jerome Powell signify that rates could stay higher for longer, which would put Bitcoin on the back foot.”

Related: SEC, CPI and a ‘strong rebound’ — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

The second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ether (ETH), also took a hit, falling more than 5% from $1,727 to $1,631 in the same time frame. Altcoins were not spared from the bearish sentiment either, with many of the tokens labeled as securities in the SEC’s lawsuits stumbling another than 3%.

Cardano (ADA) is currently down 3.4% in the last 24 hours, while Polygon (MATIC) and Solana (SOL) fell 3.3% and 2.8% respectively.

According to Cointelegraph analyst Marcel Pechman, current options data for Bitcoin suggests a further slide to the downside, especially when considering the regulatory hostility towards the crypto industry on U.S. soil combined with the likelihood of further rate increases from the Fed in the coming months.

Magazine: Bitcoin is on a collision course with ‘Net Zero’ promises

Update (June 15, 1:40am UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert.