Bitcoin is now at a crash level ahead of FTX

• At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $21,507.97.
• Bitcoin price has surpassed where it was on November 5 before the FTX crash.
• It now stands at its highest price since mid-September last year.

2022 was definitely not a very good year for cryptocurrencies and especially for Bitcoin (BTC) which was trading below $20k for a long time before the end of the year. Bitcoin fell all the way to around $15,000 in the wake of the FTX crash before attempting a comeback that saw it stuck near $16,500 for several weeks before embarking on its current rally since the beginning of 2023.

Bitcoin has now corrected a price drop that was triggered by the latest cryptocurrency misfortune, the FTX crash that occurred at the beginning of November. Early this morning, Bitcoin rose to a daily high of $21,564.50 before retreating slightly to $21,507.97 at the time of writing.

What is the reason for the high price of bitcoin today?

While the overall cryptocurrency market is on an upward trajectory, the sudden rally in the Bitcoin price today is largely due to the larger-than-expected drop this morning in the Producer Price Index (PPI) for the month just ending in December. Retail sales in December also fell far less than expected.

The producer price index for the month of December decreased by about 0.5%, bringing the annual rate down from 7.3% to 6.2%. The annual rate decreased by about 5.5% against expectations for a decline of 5.7%.

On the other hand, retail sales for December decreased by 1.1% against an expected decrease of 0.8%. Combined with the decline in November, this is the first time retail sales have fallen back-to-back by more than 1% post-pandemic.