Inflation kept in check

As the sun came up on the East Coast on Tuesday, the total crypto market, as well as stock futures, shimmered emerald-like ahead of a U.S. inflation report set to come out at 8:30 a.m. (EST).

Green tint in the charts seemed to reflect hope for a central bank spigot possibly poised to soon turn on (via lower interest rates) in the months ahead.

Bloomberg Economics flatly predicted consumer prices would stay unchanged. That call proved slightly off. The CPI gauge actually ticked up 0.1% from October. The CPI rose 3.1% for the 12 months that ended in November, down from the 3.2% annual rate recorded this past October, exactly as economists expected.

Headlines quickly emerged as of about 8:45 a.m. (EST), blaring “inflation is cooling.”

Dow futures were rallying as we were getting ready to put finishing touches on today’s edition of Unboxed.

At some point later today, markets may get hung up on “core inflation,” which is a statistic that strips out the most volatile components, food and fuel. Core CPI rose 0.3% in November compared to October.

Just prior to the release of the mixed bag of key data, Bitcoin shaded slightly red on the 24-hour chart while turning flat on the week.

At the same time, an array of unabashed altcoins appeared oblivious to macro forces while ignoring BTC's flat line.

Cardano's native ADA surged. It has gained 50% in the past week. ADA shot up another 7% in just the past 24 hours. The eighth-largest digital asset is routinely portrayed as representing as viable an Ethereum competitor as there can be. ADA is now on the verge of hitting sixty cents. ADA spent most of the summer and fall months simply clinging to about a quarter.

And lo and behold, Avalanche's AVAX has re-entered the Big Ten on an 11.4% gain in the past day. AVAX is above $40 after surging 83% in seven days.

Meanwhile, Cosmos, Injective, Celestia, KuCoin, Beam and Osmosis are all up double digits in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin's year-end rally is on the fritz as markets anticipate/game tomorrow's Fed policy reveal.

Might today's trading activity inspire a reboot?

Since making an audacious run at a 20-month high above $44K some seven days ago, BTC has stumbled about, shedding 7.5% to start the week. Monday's mauling marked BTC's biggest one-day plunge so far this year.

On Tuesday at 6:53 a.m. (EST), the best-known, most humongous digital currency stamped $41,687.57 on the CoinGecko chart. Two hours or so later, BTC was close to $41.8K.

BTC yesterday got as low as $40,200.

"The days ahead see catalysts," Barron's said.

Painful though it may seem, BTC's two-day plunge was probably just what the doctor ordered, experts contend.

"It offered a reset," Cointelegraph said, noting the frantic nature of crypto markets lately.

Unchecked upside can result in that much more violent of a reaction the longer it continues unabated.

“Very overextended, so a pullback was due,” said John Bollinger, creator of the Bollinger Bands, a time-tested volatility indicator. “Now we look to see if support can hold.”

Created forty years ago to technically analyze stocks, Bollinger's three-tiered bands comprise a middle moving-average trend-line sandwiched by upper and lower trend-lines, set apart, above and below, based on a certain number of standard deviations of price; narrowing/widening bands indicate lessening/increasing volatility.

Reading between the lines across daily periods, the recent BTC dip escorted the Big Daddy of digital assets directly to the middle band, in the belly of the Bollinger channel, couching what may have felt like a stomach-wrenching pullback into something more closely resembling mere textbook move. It's a cause for optimism going forward, Bollinger himself said.

"All we see now are signs of strength," he said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, an uptick in the amount of Tether on exchanges is also being touted as a brightly flashing green signal, per Santiment, said U.Today.

That there is now nearly 7% more USDT on exchanges compared to levels seen in mid-June of 2023 represents a greater storehouse of dry powder, viewed as a positive sign for bulls.