Dollar holds above 98 after weak US payrolls – MUFG
Source Fxstreet
The Dollar Index (DXY) found support at 98.000 following November’s weak payrolls report, which confirmed ongoing labor market softness but was not weak enough to prompt an early Fed rate cut. Markets now look to March or April for potential easing, while Fed Governor Christopher Waller emphasized a gradual approach to returning policy to neutral, MUFG's FX analyst Lee Hardman reports.
Fed plans to keep rates on hold in January
"The dollar index has found support at the 98.000-level after attempting and failing to break below after the release of the weak nonfarm payrolls report for November. While the report provided further evidence that labour demand remained weak and the US labour market continues to loosen, it has been judged as not weak enough to alter the Fed’s current plans to leave rates on hold at the next FOMC meeting in January."
"US rate market pricing for the January FOMC meeting has remained largely unchanged with only around 7bps of cuts priced in. The next Fed cut is not expected until the March or April FOMC meetings. A slower pace of Fed cuts at the start of next year would help to provide more support for the US dollar at a time when the US economy is expected to strengthen driven by a bounce back in activity following the record US government shutdown in Q4 and the boost to growth from stimulus kicking in from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill."
"Dovish Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who is still reportedly in the race to become the next Fed Chair, made the case yesterday for further rate cuts. He stated that current monetary policy settings are up to 100bps above neutral. He favours 'steadily' bringing the policy rate down to neutral. He emphasized though that with inflation still above target, the Fed can take it’s time to lower rates, and there’s 'no rush to get down'. The 'very soft' labour market with close to zero jobs growth provides justification to lower the policy rate to neutral."
Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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The sell-off found a floor at $85,151, and BTC is now consolidating near that base, but rebounds are facing pressure from a bearish trend line around $89,000.
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Bitcoin (BTC) is back in damage-control mode after a sharp pullback wiped out recent gains. The price failed to reclaim the $90,000–$90,500 band, rolled over, and slid through $88,500 before briefly dipping under $87,000. Buyers did show up around $85,000, but the rebound so far looks more like stabilization than a clear trend reversal.
Bitcoin dips hard, finds a bid near $85,000（h3）
BTC’s latest move lower began when it couldn’t build follow-through above $90,000 and $90,500. Once that upside stalled, sellers took control and pushed price down through $88,500.
The slide accelerated enough to spike below $87,000, but the market didn’t free-fall. Bulls defended the $85,000 zone, printing a low at $85,151. Since then, Bitcoin has been consolidating below the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the drop from the $93,560 swing high to the $85,151 low — a clue that the bounce is still shallow and that sellers haven’t fully backed off yet.
Structurally, BTC is still on the back foot:
It’s trading below $88,000, and
It remains below the 100-hour Simple Moving Average, keeping short-term trend pressure pointed downward.
Resistance is layered, and $89,000 is the problem area（h3）
If bulls try to turn this into a recovery, they’ll have to climb through multiple ceilings in quick succession.
First, BTC faces resistance around $87,150, followed by a more meaningful barrier near $87,500. From there, the market’s attention snaps back to $88,000 — the level BTC just lost and now needs to reclaim.
A close back above $88,000 would improve the tone, but it doesn’t solve the bigger issue: there’s a bearish trend line on the hourly BTC/USD chart (Kraken feed) with resistance near $89,000, which also lines up with the next technical hurdle.
If BTC can push through $89,000 and hold, the rebound could extend toward $90,000, with follow-through targets at $91,000 and $91,500. But until price clears that $88,000–$89,000 zone, rallies are at risk of being sold rather than chased.
If BTC fails to reclaim resistance, the downside path is clear（h3）
The near-term bear case is simple: if Bitcoin can’t climb back above the $87,000 area and keep traction, sellers may attempt another leg lower.
Support levels line up like this:
Immediate support: $85,500
First major support: $85,000
Next support: $83,500
Then $82,500 in the near term
Below that, the major “don’t break this” level is still $80,000. If BTC slips under $80,000, the risk of acceleration to the downside increases significantly — not because it’s magic, but because it’s the kind of psychological and structural level that tends to trigger forced de-risking.
Indicators: momentum still leans bearish（h3）
The intraday indicators aren’t offering much comfort yet:
Hourly MACD is losing pace in the bearish zone.
Hourly RSI remains below 50, suggesting sellers still have the upper hand on short timeframes.
So while the $85,000 defense held for now, the market hasn’t flipped bullish — it’s just stopped bleeding.
Bitcoin has dropped back below $88,000 after rolling over from $90,500, with price still trading under the 100-hour Simple Moving Average.
The sell-off found a floor at $85,151, and BTC is now consolidating near that base, but rebounds are facing pressure from a bearish trend line around $89,000.
Bulls need to retake $88,000–$89,000 to ease downside risk; failure to do so keeps $85,500–$85,000 and then $83,500 in play, with $80,000 as the deeper “line in the sand.”
Bitcoin (BTC) is back in damage-control mode after a sharp pullback wiped out recent gains. The price failed to reclaim the $90,000–$90,500 band, rolled over, and slid through $88,500 before briefly dipping under $87,000. Buyers did show up around $85,000, but the rebound so far looks more like stabilization than a clear trend reversal.
Bitcoin dips hard, finds a bid near $85,000（h3）
BTC’s latest move lower began when it couldn’t build follow-through above $90,000 and $90,500. Once that upside stalled, sellers took control and pushed price down through $88,500.
The slide accelerated enough to spike below $87,000, but the market didn’t free-fall. Bulls defended the $85,000 zone, printing a low at $85,151. Since then, Bitcoin has been consolidating below the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the drop from the $93,560 swing high to the $85,151 low — a clue that the bounce is still shallow and that sellers haven’t fully backed off yet.
Structurally, BTC is still on the back foot:
It’s trading below $88,000, and
It remains below the 100-hour Simple Moving Average, keeping short-term trend pressure pointed downward.
Resistance is layered, and $89,000 is the problem area（h3）
If bulls try to turn this into a recovery, they’ll have to climb through multiple ceilings in quick succession.
First, BTC faces resistance around $87,150, followed by a more meaningful barrier near $87,500. From there, the market’s attention snaps back to $88,000 — the level BTC just lost and now needs to reclaim.
A close back above $88,000 would improve the tone, but it doesn’t solve the bigger issue: there’s a bearish trend line on the hourly BTC/USD chart (Kraken feed) with resistance near $89,000, which also lines up with the next technical hurdle.
If BTC can push through $89,000 and hold, the rebound could extend toward $90,000, with follow-through targets at $91,000 and $91,500. But until price clears that $88,000–$89,000 zone, rallies are at risk of being sold rather than chased.
If BTC fails to reclaim resistance, the downside path is clear（h3）
The near-term bear case is simple: if Bitcoin can’t climb back above the $87,000 area and keep traction, sellers may attempt another leg lower.
Support levels line up like this:
Immediate support: $85,500
First major support: $85,000
Next support: $83,500
Then $82,500 in the near term
Below that, the major “don’t break this” level is still $80,000. If BTC slips under $80,000, the risk of acceleration to the downside increases significantly — not because it’s magic, but because it’s the kind of psychological and structural level that tends to trigger forced de-risking.
Indicators: momentum still leans bearish（h3）
The intraday indicators aren’t offering much comfort yet:
Hourly MACD is losing pace in the bearish zone.
Hourly RSI remains below 50, suggesting sellers still have the upper hand on short timeframes.
So while the $85,000 defense held for now, the market hasn’t flipped bullish — it’s just stopped bleeding.
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