Bitcoin Slides Toward Weekend as Dollar Strength and Clarity Act Doubt Weigh

Bitcoin heads into the weekend trading near $69,000, a level FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada flags as prior support-turned-resistance and the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the summer rally.

It has not been a great week for BTC/USD, Razaqzada wrote in a note published on TradingView. Gold and silver fell alongside it. The common thread: a strong US dollar and rising expectations of further rate hikes, which have hit zero-yielding assets across the board.

Tech volatility added to the pressure on Bitcoin, Razaqzada said. But he pointed to a more crypto-specific driver — uncertainty over the Clarity Act after the Democrats stormed to success in the mid-terms.

What are the support levels traders are watching?

Razaqzada laid out three price zones now approaching or being tested on the BTC/USD chart (Bitstamp):

• $69,000 — prior support/resistance and the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement against the summer rally
• $65,000 — the point of origin of the last breakout
• $64,000 — the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement

Each level sits progressively lower, meaning a break below $69,000 opens room toward the mid-$60,000s before the next significant floor.

Where does resistance come in?

On the upside, Razaqzada identified four zones:

• $71,000 — Thursday's low
• $73,000 — the 200-day average
• $73,800 to $75,000 — old resistance

The analyst's read is straightforward: a move above the $73,800-to-$75,000 zone would be bullish. Below it, the market stays on the defensive.

Why is Bitcoin trading like a tech stock this week?

The answer runs through the dollar. Expectations of further Federal Reserve rate hikes have lifted the greenback, and that hits assets that pay no yield — Bitcoin, gold and silver alike. Razaqzada grouped all three as this week's losers.

Layered on top is equity-market turbulence in the tech sector, which has increasingly moved in step with crypto. Bitcoin didn't escape that correlation this week.

The political backdrop compounds it. Democratic success in the mid-terms has left the fate of the Clarity Act — the market-regulation bill crypto investors were watching — uncertain, and Razaqzada named that uncertainty as the main reason for Bitcoin's slide.

What happens next?

The setup leaves BTC/USD at a decision point. Hold $69,000 and the summer-rally structure survives intact; lose it, and $65,000 and $64,000 come into play fast. Bulls, per Razaqzada's levels, need to reclaim the $73,800-to-$75,000 old-resistance zone before the chart turns constructive again.