Bitcoin price loses $20K, ETH price drops 8% after 'monumental' Ethereum Merge

cointelegraph.com:

Bitcoin (BTC) spent a second day threatening $20,000 support on Sept. 15 as markets processed the Ethereum (ET Merge.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking below $20,000 again overnight to recover marginally above the boundary for a brief period.

The largest cryptocurrency broadly failed to regain lost ground after surprise United States inflation data on Sep. 13 sent risk assets into a tailspin.

Down 13.5% versus the week’s top at the time of writing, Bitcoin offered little inspiration to traders who were still eyeing further losses.

Yes, we could pump from here.No, the bottom is not in. pic.twitter.com/dXYKngcQtR

“Bullish above or after a reclaim of $20,800 or something like this and maybe up,” popular trader Crypto Ed summarized in his latest YouTube update.

Fellow trader Il Capo of Crypto again flagged $23,000 and $16,000 as important levels on either side of the spot price, calling them “like a magnet” in a tweet on the day.

“Probably markets will remain calm until FED next week,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, continued on the immediate macro outlook.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index were modestly up at the start of trading, like crypto still to recover from losses earlier in the week.

Altcoin markets meanwhile were led by the story-that-wasn’t on Ethereum, which failed to react positively to the Merge.

Related: Analyst on $17.6K BTC price bottom: Bitcoin 'not there yet'

Despite the headlines, ETH/USD was down 8% on the day, circling $1,470 amid significant volatility.

Merge successful. POS activated.We are all still here.

Reacting, trading firm Cumberland nonetheless argued that the Merge’s smooth transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) was a “momemental”