Bitcoin slides below $44K in April first as trader warns 'something is off' with BTC

cointelegraph.com:

Bitcoin (BTC) continued its downturn into Wednesday's Wall Street open with its first test of $44,000 since the start of April.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching 12-day lows of $43,801 on Bitstamp, down over 7% from the month's high.

The move defied positive triggers in the form of fresh buy-ins from MicroStrategy and Terra, but analysts were instead eyeing macro factors as the next potential BTC price booster.

Jeroen Blokland, portfolio manager at asset manager Robeco, said that the United States 10-year treasury yield, on an uptrend throughout the year, should reverse direction and provide some respite for risk assets.

"We are not there yet," he nonetheless cautioned on the day.

US 10y yields jump to 2.56% thx largely to Brainard’s hawkish remarks, which raised fears ahead of FOMC minutes on Wed. pic.twitter.com/SpvFPKeFIB

In a potential countermove, the Fed revealed that May should bring the start of "aggressive" balance sheet reduction, this marking an end to "easy money" policy, which many had feared would pressure risk-asset demand.

"It is of paramount importance to get inflation down,” future Fed vice chair Lael Brainard said in comments at a conference this week, quoted by the Financial Times among others.

Inflation continued to trouble sentiment beyond the U.S., with Eurozone annual producer price inflation jumping by the most on record in February — over 31%. Coming before the Russia-Ukraine war, it is likely that future readouts will be even higher.

In a troubling environment, price watchers were prepared to cut spot some slack, calling for $44,000 to hold as a bullish foundation.

Related: Bitcoin retests key level that sparked 66% BTC price gains in 2021

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