Bitcoin indicates stock direction after Easter weekend

Analysts and investors weren’t sure where to look as stock markets remained closed for Good Friday, but thankfully there was Bitcoin to demonstrate the reaction to the US jobs report.

At the time of writing, the largest digital coin is trading for $28,000 , essentially unchanged since yesterday, even though the US employment reading was positive for the market.

With new job growth appearing to be slowing down (just as the Federal Reserve is aiming for), there is a chance that the Federal Reserve will now delay or even stop rate hikes. One optimistic analyst even stated that Bitcoin might land at $30,000 as early as this weekend.

Correlation

Much has already been written about the correlation between stocks and Bitcoin. While it was clear that Bitcoin had (temporarily) lost its correlation with equities during the banking crisis (when defensive stocks like banks traded lower and Bitcoin grew), the digital currency remains a good indicator for classic investors as it is one of the only assets with 24-hour trading.

As the jobs report came in where analysts wanted it to, some expected to see positive price action in Bitcoin as an indicator of what the stock markets will do next week. So far that has not happened.

When a plethora of markets will be closed, we will see if traders will look to take advantage of the one market that trades 365 days a year, said Edward Moya, an analyst at broker Oanda. Bitcoin remains near the upper boundaries of its trading range and could see a good chance to breach the $30,000 level over the weekend.

The famed Dutch analist Michael Van de Poppe did not agree. He said:

Very calm weekend coming up on #Bitcoin. Price action remained flat and the longer we stay in this range, the heavier the impulse will be. Based on the fact that we’re coming from $15K, I’d assume we’ll be seeing strong continuation. For now, support at $27,600 is sustaining.

By Monday we’ll know who was right.