The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price currently stands at US$20,064 (AU$29,463).
That gives the world's original crypto a market cap just north of US$383 million.
Now, that's well shy of the US$1.2 trillion plus market valuation the token commanded at its November 2021 peak. Yet Bitcoin has held up remarkably well since last Friday.
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Bitcoin price moves show resilience
As you'll likely recall, last Friday saw US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell address the global central banking summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
You'll also likely recall that Powell's words didn't exactly spur investors' risk appetites.
With inflation no longer transitory (let alone 'stubbornly missing') Powell revealed that the world's most watched central bank isn't going to ease back on its tightening policies anytime soon.
Addressing some of the world's top financial leaders, Powell said:
Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.
The Bitcoin price and most all risk assets sold off in the wake of his hawkish pronouncement. Indeed, the world's top crypto dipped below the psychologically important level of US$20,000 a few times earlier this week.
But here's the interesting thing.
In the hours before Powell spoke, Bitcoin was trading for around US$21,550.
That means at the current price, Bitcoin is down 5.2% from that level.
On the other hand, the tech-heavy NASDAQ – a good proxy for risk assets – is down 6.5% since Powell's speech.
That's noteworthy because 2022 has seen cryptos move in close synch with risk assets. And the Bitcoin price moves this year have generally been significantly larger (both up and down) on major macroeconomic news than the NASDAQ.
Yet not this time.
And this could be a positive sign of things to come, Oanda senior market analyst Ed Moya said.
According to Moya (courtesy of Bloomberg):
Bitcoin is showing some resilience here as it has clawed back above the $20,000 level, despite widespread stock market weakness. Crypto traders are not used to seeing Bitcoin withstand a rout on Wall Street, so this could be a promising sign.
