Bitcoin (BTC) managed to put in a modest rally early in the U.S. trading session on Friday, but the move was quickly snuffed out. Are bulls lightening up positions ahead of the weekend?
They could be forgiven for doing so.
In his Friday note, Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick highlighted that bitcoin’s price has now declined for five consecutive weekends (measured from 5 PM ET Friday to the same time on Sunday).
Among the scares during that timeframe were the DeepSeek AI news and Trump tariff threats.
“This is not normal,” reminded Kendrick, noting that weekend price action for all of 2024 tended to be rather muted, with Mondays and Fridays instead being the times to pay attention for significant moves.
Failed Rally on Friday
Turning to the action early Friday, bitcoin managed to rally about 1.5% to $97,600 in very short order following the release of U.S. retail sales data for January. The number missed economist estimates by a considerable margin, fostering hope that rate cuts from the Federal Reserve might be back on the table in the first half of the year.
However, the price has since returned to approximately where it was ahead of the print at $96,400.
Moreover, for those apprehensive about the upcoming weekend, it’s worth noting that it spans three days in the U.S., as Monday is a holiday for Presidents’ Day.
