Bitcoin Breaks Away From Stock Market Amid Recession Fears
Healthy demand for non-essentials could drive additional spending and inflate prices, especially in the presence of a strong labor market with decades-high employment levels.
Yesterday’s January CPI report revealed that core CPI, excluding food and energy costs, rose to 0.4% last month. This number complicated the inflation narrative, which suggested that disinflation in other sectors of the economy pointed to the success of the Fed’s tightening policy.
Now, with higher retail sales and higher CPI, the Federal Reserve will likely increase interest rates to above 5% at its March 2023 Open Markets Committee meeting.
Former Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud connected to an insider trading scheme at the U.S. exchange.
In a Feb. 7, 2023 court hearing, Wahi admitted to sharing data about forthcoming Coinbase cryptocurrency listings with his younger sibling Nikhil and their friend Sameer Ramani. The rise in the value of the tokens after their Coinbase listing allowed the younger Wahi and their mutual friend to reap at least $1.5 million in profits illegally, U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors asserted.
Ex-Coinbase Manager Faces 3-4 Year Sentence as Brother Serves Jail Time
Ishan Wahi pleaded not guilty last year after a Twitter user unveiled an Ethereum wallet holding hundreds of thousands of crypto tokens bought 24 hours before they were listed on Coinbase. The wallet belonged to Ramani, who purchased the tokens using Wahi’s information.
Following the Twitter post, Coinbase security arranged a meeting with Wahi in their Seattle Office. Before the meeting, Wahi’s flight to India was prevented by U.S. law enforcement.
Federal Judge Preska has set May 10, 2023, as the hearing date for sentencing. Ishan Wahi will likely be imprisoned for 36 to 47 months, while his brother is currently serving a ten-month sentence after pleading guilty to a similar wire fraud charge last year.
The Optimism (OP) price reached a new all-time high on Feb. 3. Whether it moves above the $3.22 resistance area can determine the future trend’s direction.
The Optimism price has exploded in 2023, increasing by 255%. This led to a new all-time high price of $3.13 on Feb. 3. The high was made at exactly the 1.61 Fib retracement of the previous drop.
Since Fib extensions are used as resistance/support whenever the price reaches a new all-time high, whether OP manages to break out above it or gets rejected could determine the future trend.
In case of a breakout, the next resistance would be at $4.83, the 2.61 Fib extension. However, if the rally loses steam, the Optimism price could fall to the horizontal support level of $2. The area previously acted as resistance before turning to support on Jan. 25.
While the daily RSI generated bearish divergence (green line), it seems to have broken out from the bearish divergence trend line.
