Bitcoin Rises With Stocks as EU Agrees to €750B in Coronavirus Stimulus

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21 July 2020

Bitcoin edged higher on Tuesday as stock markets cheered the European Union’s decision to approve a landmark coronavirus recovery fund.

  • The leading cryptocurrency by market value jumped from $9,190 to $9,360 during the 60 minutes to 08:00 UTC.
  • Bitcoin is trading at $9,348 at press time – up around 2% on the day, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index.
  • European Union leaders clinched the long-awaited €750 billion post-pandemic fiscal stimulus plan during the Asian trading hours, boosting demand for equities and sending EUR/USD to a 4.5-month high of 1.1470.
  • Additional bullish pressure looks to be stemming from hopes that coronavirus vaccines would be ready by the year-end. 
  • Some major European equity indices are up at least 1.5% each, while Germany’s DAX index is currently at its highest level since February. 
  • Asian stocks also gained over 2% early Tuesday; futures tied to the S&P 500, Wall Street’s benchmark index, are currently up nearly 0.8%. 

Looking forward

  • Bitcoin has recently developed a strong positive correlation with the stock markets.
  • Equities remain vulnerable to a potential escalation in lingering Sino-U.S. tensions.
  • Wayne Chen, CEO of Interlapse Technologies, however, said investors may now look to bitcoin as a store of value/safe haven, given the high price of gold.
  • The precious metal is now just 4.6% short of the record high of $1,911 reached in September 2011. 
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Bitcoin daily chart
Source: TradingView
  • From a technical analysis standpoint, bitcoin’s immediate bias remains neutral, despite today's rise.
  • The cryptocurrency is still trapped within the narrowing Bollinger volatility bands.
  • A Bollinger breakout in either direction would bring a measured move of $400 to support at $8,600 or resistance at $9,800, as noted by Adrian Zdunczyk, CEO of trading community The BIRB Nest in a blog post.

Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing.