Bitcoin continues to trade in a tight range of $18,000 to $25,000 mark, keeping investors on edge about where the price is going next. The crytpo market has been plagued with a number of issues from collapsed projects to bankruptcies.

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Bitcoin briefly topped $20,000 on Tuesday, hitting its highest level in the more than a week, but is still struggling to break out of its tight trading range.

The world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap turned lower, however, as stocks fell deeper into a bear market. It was last lower by less than 1% at $19,078.21, according to data from Coin Metrics. Ether was also down by less than 1%.

Bitcoin continues to struggle for direction. It has been trading between $18,000 and $25,000 since mid-June after a crash saw nearly $2 trillion wiped off the entire crypto market since its peak in November.

That market decline was driven by interest rate increases from central banks aimed a controlling rampant inflation as well as a wave of bankruptcies and insolvency issues that filtered through the crypto industry.

Crypto investors have been watching monetary policy because digital currencies have been closely correlated to U.S. stock markets this year. Higher interest rates have put pressure on the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq, which has filtered through other risky assets including cryptocurrencies.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's 0.75 percentage point rate hike last week marked a "major event" for crypto markets, according to Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development and international at crypto exchange Luno.

"This was broadly in line with market expectations and hence, we've seen a lot of that sentiment priced in," Ayyar said.

Interestingly, bitcoin's rally, which began on Monday, happened despite a fall in U.S. stocks with the S&P 500 closing at its lowest level of 2022. Stock futures rose on Tuesday. So, there are signs that perhaps the correlation between crypto and stocks could be weakening.

Meanwhile, investors are watching the U.S. dollar closely. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, is up more than 18% this year. Bitcoin moves inversely to the dollar, so a strong greenback is negative for bitcoin. However, Ayyar said that the dollar index could be nearing its top which would mark a potential bottom for bitcoin. That could be a reason behind bitcoin's surge.

"Traders hence might also be positioning themselves accordingly," Ayyar said.

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Bitcoin slides back under $19,000 as stocks fall deeper into bear market - CNBC

Alex Dovbnya

Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary is convinced that Bitcoin is not going anywhere without regulatory clarity

Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary, who is best known for co-hosting the hit TV show Shark Tank, has opined that Bitcoin will struggle to reclaim the $22,000 level without regulatory clarity.

Mr. Wonderful is convinced that not a single sovereign wealth fund will move against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The price of the worlds largest cryptocurrency peaked at more than $69,000 in late November, but it has since retraced to as low as $17,600 in July.

The flagship coin is currently sitting at $19,412 after failing to hold the pivotal $20,000 level.

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It is worth noting that Bitcoin did manage to hit the $22,000 level on Sept. 22, but its bullish momentum didnt have legs. The rally was followed by a brutal sell-off that occurred the following day.

In February, O'Leary said that Bitcoin would need to win over wealth and pension funds in order to be able to eventually reach the $300,000 level. The investor has repeatedly stated that crypto was yet to reach any semblance of institutional adoption.

Back then, he predicted that the cryptocurrency industry would be able to achieve regulatory clarity within the following two or three years.

Industry leaders have been clamoring for clear cryptocurrency rules for a long period of time.

In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao claims that clear cryptocurrency rules will help to ease adoption since it will attract more mainstream users.

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"Shark Tank" Star Says Bitcoin Won't Go Above $22,000 Unless This Happens - U.Today

This is an opinion editorial by Charles MacKenzie, head of business development at BitcoinRacing.

The U.K.'s most prestigious motorsports circuit which became the Grand Prixs permanent home in 1987, and has remained a fixture on the F1 calendar ever since will soon be swarmed by a small army of Bitcoin enthusiasts.

Over 125 Bitcoin fanatics are congregating at Silverstone Circuit on October 16 to enjoy a spectacle never seen before at the 72 year old track, three bitcoin liveried cars sprinting around the historic circuit in their final races of the season. As well as enjoying this high-octane bitcoin themed thrill, guests will enjoy the opportunity to try Salvadoran Pupusas, race a Bitcoin liveried car on an advanced racing simulator and listen to conference style speeches from prominent U.K. Bitcoiners.

The Bitcoin Racing team has made it mandatory that all guests wear Bitcoin merch so that on the big day Bitcoin has a huge presence at the track. The team has given this strategy the hashtag #turnsilverstoneorange and they hope that this huge display of support for the team and the digital currency will encourage both officials at Silverstone and fans alike to start learning more about Bitcoin. If you would like to attend this event you can sign up for free here, and you can also grab some official merch from these websites.

Bitcoin racing is a small family-run race team that has been driving to circuits like Brands Hatch Circuit and Oulton Park across the U.K. to promote Bitcoin, using their own funds. Not only do they expose thousands of spectators to the bitcoin logo on race days, they also make sure that thousands of motorists see the logo on their massive semitruck as they traverse the U.K. highways. You can watch Bitcoin racing's most recent race here where one of their drivers, Liam Browning, achieved a second place podium for the team after taking full advantage of a safety car lap! The team currently races in the City Car Cup which is an entry-level championship, but they have some fantastic young drivers with dreams to go all the way, and the family team is now working hard to connect with bitcoin companies, plebs and fans to make this happen.

Charlie from Bitcoin racing said So far during our campaign, we have traveled about 3,500 miles across the country with our Bitcoin racing semitruck ... I think these initial impressions on people who see us as we drive by are very important as they will start getting people to think about Bitcoin. We have estimated that over 70,000 people will see our cars on the U.K. roads alone based on some back of the envelope calculations!

On an even more exciting note, Bitcoin Racing has government permission to display El Salvador's national flag on the roof of their cars, meaning that all the spectators who come to see their final races at Silverstone will enjoy seeing the flag of El Salvador fly by them as the team promotes the country and its legal tender. In fact, the team has been invited to El Salvador in September on an official visit where they will discuss with the nation how Bitcoin Racing, Salvadoran driver Sebastian Melrose and the country can collaborate to use motorsports as a medium to advertise the country and its currency. Melrose has his eyes set on the Porsche Carrera Cup and believes this prestigious championship will serve as a fantastic way to promote his nation.

On the day of the event there will be some very high-profile guests attending Silverstone, who all attendees will have the chance to meet. Although unannounced at this point you can rest assured that there will be some very well known individuals from the Bitcoin space attending. For example, at their first race at Oulton park the UK Ambassador to El Salvador, Her Excellency Ms. Vanessa Interiano, was in attendance.

In addition to these high-profile A-listers Bitcoin Racing has hired a full racing simulator where guests will be given the chance to race a bitcoin liveried car to try and beat the lap times of their official drivers. The director of LuxSim24, Robert Pearson, who was orange pilled by the team, will be accepting satoshis for the first time as payment from people who wish to see if they have what it takes to beat the team's top drivers.

Robert said I am excited to open my business up to emerging currencies and to move forward with the times. Also, the fact that I can convert a portion of the bitcoin instantly to cash, with fees which are much lower than the traditional banking apps is extremely exciting.

Attendees can also expect Bitcoin-themed games, pupusas, speeches from bitcoin OGs like Daniel Prince and Jason Deane, and the chance to receive 10 (~$10) in free bitcoin from the team if they bring a friend who hasn't invested in bitcoin before.

In the future Bitcoin Racing wants to enter a fleet of Bitcoin cars into the U.K.'s most prestigious, high-profile motorsports package known as the TOCA package. Within this package, the British touring cars, Porsche Carrera Cup, JCW MINI challenge and Ginnetas all battle it out for the podium. Importantly these championships enjoy over 70 hours of live T.V. time with millions of T.V. viewers, hundreds of thousands of spectators throughout the season and a global reach of millions of fans on social media.

With your support the team can fight back against the Cardano, Doge and HEX cars, and give Bitcoin a chance to be promoted in these high level championships!

Thanks from the Bitcoin racing team for reading this article, we can't wait to meet you at Silverstone this October.

This is a guest post by Charles MacKenzie. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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Driving Bitcoin Adoption At Silverstone International Grand Prix - Bitcoin Magazine

The FOMC meeting has been done and dusted, but its impact on the price of bitcoin has left a lasting market. Where the market had expected volatility following such an important meeting for the financial market, it was steeper than expected. Looking back, it has been one of the most volatile that the market has been and a new record for the FOMC meeting.

Right before the FOMC meeting had begun last week, there was already some volatility being recorded in the market. However, it would pick up quickly once the meeting was in full swing and the results from the meeting were announced.

When the statement was released that the Federal Reserve (Fed) was increasing interest rates by another 75 basis points (bps), bitcoin had dumped hard in the market. In the space of one minute, the price had declined more than 5%, and then made another recovery of 2.7% in the minute that followed. Even with this recovery, the volatility did not slow down. Price would continue to fluctuate wildly in the one hour that followed the announcement.

By the time the one hour following the announcement was over, the volatility levels had reached 0.8%. This is arguably the most volatile of all the FOMC meetings in the history of bitcoin, and it comes as no surprise given the inflation trend in the last few months.

The Fed is still expected to raise interest rates even after this. This is because it has reiterated that it plans to get the economy back to a 2% inflation rate, and since it remains far off from this target, more volatility is expected for bitcoin.

Mostly, the days after the FOMC meeting had seen the price of bitcoin return back to mostly normal. The only difference, in this case, was the fact that there was more bearish sentiment in the market. This bearish sentiment has led to a decline in the price of the cryptocurrency.

Before the FOMC meeting had taken place, the bitcoin prices had been trending just below $20,000. However, the price has nosedived below $19,000 multiple times since then. However, the price had recovered once more, above $19,000 at the time of this writing.

The cryptocurrency also continues to trade in a highly correlated state to the macro markets. This has meant that most activity in the stock market has been mirrored by bitcoin over the last couple of months. This high correlation is also expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

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Dont Fight The Fed: FOMC Meeting Is Most Volatile For Bitcoin Ever | Bitcoinist.com - Bitcoinist

Since the inception of bitcoin, bull and bear markets have been a natural part of its growth. However, like with anything that lasts a long time, the market has evolved, and so has the concentration of various things in the market. One of these changes has come in the form of the funding rates and what portion of it was controlled by different exchanges. In the last bear, BitMEX had proven to be a significant part of the bear market, but things have changed.

Now, derivatives have become more popular among bitcoin and crypto users over the past year. Nevertheless, they remain very complex to the point that the instruments used to fund calculations by different platforms can vary widely. This even pushes further the collateral structure of the derivatives on each platform.

Back in 2017/2018, when the bear market had taken hold, BitMEX had been at the forefront of the derivatives market. A report from Arcane Research uses the first 318 days after the start of the 2018 bear market, where it found that the crypto exchange had accounted for more than half of all derivatives volume at the time. It had also seen the accumulated funding rates reach -0.46%, which, today, tells a much different story.

However, over the years, the crypto exchange has lost its dominance of the derivatives market share. As more prominent competitors popped up, BitMEX has seen its share of the bitcoin open interest drop to 3.3%, and its accumulated funding rate drop another 1.46% in the present-day market. This means that the crypto exchange is now much less important to the bitcoin bear market than it used to be.

Looking back at the performance of bitcoin in the perpetual markets, it seems to be the opposite of the last bear market. The first example of this is that back in the 2018 bear market, BitMEX funding rates sat at 0.46%. At this time, the funding rates were very volatile, and the shorts were mostly paying the shorts.

However, in todays market, the reverse has been the case. The report shows that shortening the BTCUSDT perp pair since November 10th would see a return of 5.25% as of today. This goes against the 2018 trend, and now the longs are paying the shorts.

It is also important to keep in mind that funding rates from the last bear market were actually more volatile than they are today. For example, BitMEX had bottomed at -12.15% in accumulated funding rates during the cycle peak back in 2019.

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By The Numbers: A Bitcoin Bear Market Without BitMEX | Bitcoinist.com - Bitcoinist

United States senator for Wyoming Cynthia Lummis has suggested Bitcoin (BTC) has the potential to solve existing financial sector challenges like inflation.

According to Lummis, Bitcoin cant be stopped, stating that it offers users an alternative to the devaluation of the dollar in the wake of the rising national debt and inflation, the senator said during an interview with investigative journalist Natalie Brunell on September 28.

I love that it cant be stopped, especially because Im concerned about our national debt, Im concerned about inflation. I see people in my home state of Wyoming that are going to food banks now because they need fuel to get to their jobs, and they have to choose now between high-priced gasoline and food. <> We see things that are inflationary.< > Its actually comforting to know that Bitcoin is there, said Lummis.

Notably, Lummis has been among leading Bitcoin proponents pushing for the sectors adoption. In this line, Lummis introduced a comprehensive crypto regulation bill seeking to provide a framework for regulating the U.S. crypto sector.

At the same time, Lummis has been at the forefront of attempting to educate U.S. leaders on the qualities of Bitcoin that can benefit the economy. However, she also called out leaders attempting to clamp down on Bitcoin, stating that she would resist them.

We believe it (Bitcoin) allows us to innovate but still provides a regulatory framework, so we will be resistant to members of the U.S. Senate and House who want to clamp down on itThere are individual leaders in our country right now, I believe that are bound and determined to do the wrong thing, and were going to have to get through this, she added.

Furthermore, besides leaders, Lummis pointed out that several policymakers are opposed to the idea of Bitcoin because it eliminates the element of control from the government. According to the senator, lack of control has pushed some regulators to be scared of Bitcoin.

It is worth noting that the United States is currently debating the right regulatory approach to crypto, with the White House getting involved after president Joe Biden signed an Executive Order directing Federal agencies to study the development of cryptocurrencies.

The order resulted in the White House releasing its first-ever cryptocurrency framework calling for regulation of the sector to protect consumers.

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Senator Lummis calls out U.S. leaders to welcome Bitcoin as it 'can't be stopped' - Finbold - Finance in Bold

El Salvador, the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, is hosting an Adopting Bitcoin conference which will see more than 110 speakers from over 30 countries gather to discuss financial inclusion, per a press release.

Galoy Inc., the company behind the Bitcoin Beach Wallet, is organizing the nonprofit event while cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex will be the headline sponsor. The event will take place from November 15-17 and El Salvadorans can grab discounted tickets for $21.

El Salvador is now making strides to become the Singapore of Central America and a beacon for financial inclusion, while bitcoin is proving itself as an excellent medium of exchange that can facilitate millions of daily transactions, said Nicolas Burtey, CEO of Galoy, per the release.

The first two days of the event will take place at the Crowne Plaza convention center where speakers will share the latest developments relating to technology and economics in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Jon Atak, a Bitcoin Core developer who recently received a $50,000 grant from the Human Rights Foundation, will deliver one the key technological presentations at the conference.

Additionally, Mexican Senator Indira Kempis will be the most prominent speaker focused on the economic discussions. Kempis made headlines in the past for her support of central bank digital currencies, but also for her attempts to establish bitcoin as legal tender in Mexico.

The third day of the event will see the attendees travel to Bitcoin Beach, in El Zonte, to see where the adoption of bitcoin in the country started.

After less than one year, we are seeing one in five people use bitcoin daily, said Mike Peterson, director of Bitcoin Beach. Now delegations of representatives, bankers and technologists from all corners of the world are coming to El Salvador to learn how bitcoin can be used as a tool for financial inclusion.

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El Salvador To Host Nonprofit Bitcoin Conference With Attendees From Over 30 Countries - Bitcoin Magazine