BTC Volatility Analysis for Retail Sales Ex Autos, 14th February 2018

Data Analysis

The release

Released by the Bureau of Census on 14 February 2018 at 8:30 AM EST. The Retail Sales Excluding Automobiles came in at -0.4% for January 2018, against 0.7% in December 2017. Retail sales excluding autos are falling, after a rise.

It arrived at the same moment as Retail Sales, Consumer Price Index, Core Consumer Price Index and Core Inflation Rate, so the reaction measured on this page belongs to all of them together.

How Bitcoin moved

Bitcoin was at $9,228.59 when the figure came out. Fifteen minutes later it was 0.26% lower, and an hour later 0.75% lower. Its high-to-low range in the hour after was 1.74% of its price, against 2.64% in the hour before.

Measured by Clometrix

Bitcoin's volatility ratio was 1.98x, against 1.54x for a typical Retail Sales Ex Autos release since 2021. Its volume ratio was 2.78x, against a typical 1.74x. That is about what this release usually does. Both compare the quarter hour of the release with an ordinary quarter hour that same day, where 1.00x is no change: volatility is how far the price ranged, volume how much traded.

What made it matter

Since 2021, Retail Sales Ex Autos releases in the two weeks before a Fed decision have moved Bitcoin about as much as those at other times: a median volatility ratio of 1.72x across 27, against 1.54x across 43. This one was not within two weeks of a Fed decision. Its own ratio of 1.98x compares with 1.54x for those, so it moved the price more than its circumstances alone would suggest.

Its record

Across 70 Retail Sales Ex Autos releases since 2021, Bitcoin's median volatility ratio is 1.54x.

About Retail Sales Excluding Automobiles

The U.S. Census Bureau publishes the Retail Sales report every month. It is a measure of consumer spending excluding the automobile sector. Retail firms provide data on the dollar value of their retail sales and inventories. A sample of 12,000 firms is included in the final survey and 5,000 in the advanced one. The advanced estimated data is based on a subsample from the USCB complete retail & food services sample.