Bitcoin prices fell on Friday as the market bought into strong US dollar fundamentals. BTCUSD traded at 66,639 at 12.10 UTC after going down by 2.63%, underlining the weaker buying momentum as the pullback sentiment reigns. The Bitcoin halving event is scheduled for April 19th, and this is likely to continue providing support for the asset.
Notably, Bitcoin, the crypto market bellwether diverged significantly from the altcoin market enroute to its $73,750 all-time high, signaling the excitement around the halving. Ethereum, the second=largest crypto asset by market cap, has failed to test its ATH set in November 2021. With that in mind, we are likely to see repeated attempts to retrace the ATH as the halving date approaches. That could also trigger more volatility in the market.
Elsewhere, the US dollar’s strength will also weigh in on bitcoin’s performance. The greenback remains strong despite softer US economic data in the last week. The DXY index, which measures the dollar’s strength against six other major currencies is at 104.58 as of this writing. The USD is likely to strengthen further after the US economy printed out upbeat jobs data. The Nonfarm Payrolls figures rose to 303,000 in March, beating the forecast 212,000. Furthermore, the February figure was revised downwards to 270,000 from 275,000. The US dollar also got tailwinds from a decline in the US unemployment to 3.8% from 3.9%. This will add to the downward pressure on BTCUSD.
BTCUSD faces resistance at the 67,192 pivot, and the downside will prevail as long as the pair trades below this level. With the sellers in control, the support at 66,408 could be broken, thus building momentum to head lower to 65,511 in extension. Alternatively, a move above 67,192 will favour control by the buyers. The resistance at 67,995 will likely break if the buyers keep the price above the pivot mark. Furthermore, they could push the pair up to test 68,686 in extension.