After a rally of nearly 20% in July, bitcoin (BTC-USD) is commencing August with a slump as traders appear to be narrowing their risk appetite as disappointing factory output data adds to concerns about slower economic growth. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is sliding 3.6% to $22.99K as of around 3:40 p.m. ET, while ethereum (ETH-USD) is falling 5.3% to $1.62K in Monday afternoon trading amid a broader risk-off day. Cryptos wrapped up the second quarter on a strong note, though, after the busiest week of Q2 corporate earnings, a modestly less hawkish than expected rhetoric at the Federal Reserve's meeting, in addition to a raft of poor economic data, all in the week ended July 29. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) climbed 9.1% at the time, and ether (ETH-USD) jumped 14.1%. "What usually happens when you have huge uncertainty like we saw last week, where there’s potentially negative data being released, or an impactful event occurring, there’s a lack of buyers leading into it," GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou wrote in a note. While the price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) is getting knocked lower intraday, Sotiriou contended that bitcoin's chart "looks considerably more bullish today" since it consolidated above the 200weekly simple moving average for the first time in seven weeks. "This is an indicator which many analysts are keeping a close eye on, as it was tested in previous bear markets yet always held as support," he added. Crypto-related stocks are mostly...
