Bitcoin

Why Bitcoin is not threatened by a rising dollar

Bitcoin maintains its levels in recent weeks despite a rising dollar, reversing a historically consistent trend.

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  • The U.S. dollar index reached its highest level since November 2022.
  • BTC’s correlation with DXY was just around 0.11 at the time of publication.

The U.S. dollar index (DXY) has risen a few notches higher, boosted by the Federal Reserve’s signals that one more interest rate hike was imminent before 2023-end.


How much are 1,10,100 BTCs worth today?


In fact, according to a TradingView chart, the rally has been going on for the past two months. The index, which measures USD’s strength against a basket of six foreign currencies, hit its highest level in the last ten months at the time of writing.

Source: Trading View/U.S. Dollar Index

Bitcoin immune to USD’s rise

Historically, the USD, considered a safe haven, has had an inverse correlation with supposedly risky assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies. However, recent developments appeared to contradict this pattern. At least, partially.

According to on-chain analytics platform Santiment, while the USD has shot up, Bitcoin [BTC] has held steady in the recent weeks. The king coin has wiggled in and around the $26,000-level for most parts, as shown below.

Source: Santiment

To the contrary, major stock indices like the S&P 500 experienced a significant drop, thereby staying true to the historical tendencies.

Spotting Bitcoin’s resilience in a worsening macroeconomic environment, Santiment heightened the possibility of BTC breaking out of ongoing tight trading ranges once DXY’s rally fades.

Decoupling from TradFi markets

As per another popular on-chain research firm IntoTheBlock, Bitcoin’s relation with traditional finance indicators flipped drastically in recent weeks

BTC’s correlation with DXY was just around 0.11 at the time of publication. In fact, a week ago, it was zero. Needless to say, the decoupling played a part in insulating BTC from DXY’s rally.

Source: IntoTheBlock

Moreover, BTC’s relation with bellwethers of the U.S. financial market—Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500—turned negative. This implied that if the price of one asset rallies, the other one falls and vice versa.


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Now, for most parts of its existence, BTC has been labeled as a “risky asset” and clubbed with the stock market. However, the negative correlation could effectively project it as a safe haven, akin to Gold.

At the time of writing, BTC exchanged hands at $26,411, per Santiment. Given its stability in the face of a rising dollar, investors’ sentiment swung from negative to positive for the king coin.

Source: Santiment