The macroeconomic data of the United States showed that inflation has increased above expectations, leading to a sudden volatility in Bitcoin on September 13. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August exceeded expectations with a 3.7% annual increase, which was 0.1% higher than forecasted. The rise in gasoline prices played a significant role in the increase in inflation. Participants in the crypto market were concerned about how high inflation would tighten economic policies. Popular investor CrypNuevo stated that the rapid increase in gasoline prices could result in the next CPI being +4% and emphasized that inflation is still a significant issue.
August CPI Exceeded Targets
Data from TradingView tracked the movement of BTC prices as it threatened to lose the $26,000 mark. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August exceeded expectations with a 3.7% annual increase, which was 0.1% higher than forecasted. A section of the official press release by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics stated:
“The gasoline index was the largest contributor to the monthly increase, accounting for over half of the increase in all items. Another contributing factor to the monthly increase was the continued progression in the housing index, which has risen for 40 consecutive months.”
Early in the day, participants in the crypto market warned that a hot CPI announcement could put pressure on the market as it would imply that inflation is persisting more stubbornly than expected. This could have implications for how restrictive economic policy will be in the future. It was estimated that the August CPI would exceed the previous figure of 3.2% in July and reach 3.6%.
Popular investor CrypNuevo stated in a statement to subscribers at X:
“I think we will see a +4% in the next CPI with the rapid increase in gasoline prices, and inflation is still a problem and a big problem in the second half of the year.”
Bitcoin Liquidity Sticks to $25,000 and Below
Prior to the announcement, Keith Alan, co-founder of on-chain data monitoring source Material Indicators, was optimistic about the continuation of BTC price momentum throughout the week. In a section of an X post, Alan said that the strength of BTC momentum has slightly diminished since yesterday, but it is still strong enough to hold most of the gains reclaimed after the bounce.
Alan reiterated that there are multiple technical resistances above the current spot price range, coming in the form of several daily moving averages. Shortly before the opening of Wall Street, the BTC/USD pair continued to experience volatility, with no clear trend at the time of writing. The order book snapshot of the BTC/USDT pair on the largest global exchange Binance showed liquidity surrounding the spot price with more bids given at $25,000.
