FX.co ★ Technical Analysis of BTC/USD for February 14, 2023

Crypto Industry News:

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for domestic and cross-border use as part of its newly launched Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) program.

In a recent announcement, the Bank presented the FIT program and emphasized its goal of supporting the domestic financial services sector. The central bank stressed that the program will promote digital transactions and enable the UAE to compete as a hub for financial and digital payments.

The first stage of the FIT program involves the issuance of CBDCs. According to the central bank, the release of the CBDC would "appropriately address the problems and inefficiencies of cross-border payments and help drive innovation in domestic payments." According to Khaled Mohamed Balama, the governor of the CBUAE, the FIT program will "support the UAE's thriving financial ecosystem and its future growth."

In addition to the CBDC, the government also plans to launch a unified card payment platform to "facilitate the growth of e-commerce" and instant payment platforms to "promote financial inclusion and enable a cashless society" during the first phase of the program.

The FIT program includes nine initiatives, including those that will be implemented in the first stage. The initiatives that will be introduced after the first stage are the e-Know Your Customer platform and the innovation hub.

On February 7, Dubai's virtual asset regulator published the long-awaited "Full Market Products Regulations" which contain extensive guides on virtual asset activities for projects operating in the emirate. The regulations include a ban on the issuance of "enhanced anonymity cryptocurrencies", also commonly referred to as "privacy coins".

Technical Market Outlook:

The BTC/USD pair key short-term technical support located at $22,523 and $22,308 had been violated and the bears made a new local low at the level of $21,488. On the lower time frames, like H4, the momentum is still weak and negative, but bulls are tying to bounce towards the level of $22,328 to test it again. The market trades below the short-term trend line resistance (orange line on the chart) and below 50 and 100 MA. A breakout above the level of $25,000 on BTC/USD is still needed in order to extend the rally towards the key mid-term technical resistance seen at $25,442, so there is still a room to the upside for bulls.

Weekly Pivot Points:

WR3 - $22,270

WR2 - $22,017

WR1 - $21,928

Weekly Pivot - $21,765

WS1 - $22,675

WS2 - $21,510

WS3 - $21,322

Trading Outlook:

Despite the recent rally, the down trend on the H4, Daily and Weekly time frames continues without any indication of a possible trend termination or reversal. So far every bounce and attempt to rally is being used to sell Bitcoin for a better price by the market participants, so the bearish pressure is still high. The gamechanging level for bulls is located at $25,442 and it must be clearly violated for a valid breakout in the longer term.