Google users think BTC is dead — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

Traders brace for fireworks in July thanks to macro triggers while BTC price action is on track for a historic monthly close below the 200-week moving average.

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week above $20,000 but heading for a new bearish record as a key support level remains out of reach.

After a calm weekend punctuated by a brief spike to nearly $22,000, BTC/USD is back near the closing price of June 24 for CME futures markets.

A “round trip” thus allows traders to pick up where they left off at the end of last week’s final Wall Street trading session, but what could lie in store in the coming days?

A familiar cocktail of macro threats and ongoing bearish tendencies make the current climate far from ideal for the average hodler. Despite seeing some relief last week, crypto markets continue to bear the brunt of cold feet, which have defined macro sentiment increasingly throughout 2022.

With the June monthly close fast approaching, meanwhile, Bitcoin faces a few days of reckoning amid what could be its worst monthly performance since 2018.

Cointelegraph takes a look at five potential market triggers for the week ahead as inflation rages, and crypto struggles to regain its footing.

Traders expect July to provide BTC price “catalysts”
Apathetic” is a good word to describe the general sense of resignation among Bitcoin traders this week.

While the weekend spared the average hodler more unwelcome surprises, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows the fact remains that BTC/USD is far from where anyone wants it to be — even in a bear market.

With the key 200-week moving average (WMA) out of reach, there is a precious little bullish sentiment out there, as evidenced by the “extreme fear” of the Crypto Fear & Greed Index still firmly in control.

“BTC will capitulate in the next 6 months & hit cycle bottom (anywhere between $14-21k), then chop around in $28-40k in most of 2023 and be at ~$40k again by next halving,” Venturefounder, contributing analyst at on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, summarized in part of a Twitter update on June 27.

Venturefounder’s thesis is indicative of a broader belief that the bottom is not yet in for Bitcoin, and that any relief moves are exactly that — distractions on the way to lower levels that suck capital out of market newbies and weak hands.

Expectations are that the first week of July could provide the next major bout of volatility across crypto and risk assets.

“Not much happening overnight on Bitcoin but am expecting quite a slow week due to the lack of catalysts currently,” popular trader Crypto Tony confirmed.
For Arthur Hayes, former CEO of derivatives giant BitMEX, the first week of next month is a period where macro stars will align to punish hodlers once again.

In a blog post earlier in June, he flagged the United States Federal Reserve’s outsized rate hike and balance sheet reduction as providing the key backdrop to a risk asset nightmare.

“By June 30 (second quarter-end

), the Fed will have enacted a 75bps rate hike and begun shrinking its balance sheet. July 4 falls on a Monday, and is a federal and banking holiday. This is the perfect setup for yet another mega crypto dump,” Hayes warned.

A “wild ride to the downside” thus could be just days away.

As Cointelegraph reported, popular consensus for a genuine price bottom focuses on the area between $14,000 and $16,000, but $11,000 has also made an appearance, this corresponding to an 84.5% drawdown versus Bitcoin’s most recent all-time high.