The biggest cryptocurrency held around $19,500 in Asian trade, almost unchanged on the day but down 11% since the end of last week. Global markets also calmed down as investors took a deep breath in anticipation of inflation data.

A better-than-expected 8.8% result could tighten bets on the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening, which will once again stir up speculative investments such as cryptocurrencies. But a weaker reading could revive market sentiment.

Headline inflation below 8.5% could lead to a scenario where the dollar “falls across the board” and “crypto rises 5%+,” Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group, wrote in a note.

The Fed’s rate hike, the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, and the collapse of cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital all contributed to bitcoin’s 58% drop in 2022.

According to CoinGecko, the total value of the cryptocurrency market was around $906 billion on Wednesday, up from more than $3 trillion in November.

Technical analyst Kathy Stockton, co-founder of Fairlead Strategies, said earlier this week that “in the long term, the downward momentum is growing” and that Bitcoin could test the $18,300 to $19,500 price range.