Major cryptocurrencies experienced a decline on Wednesday evening following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments, which cooled expectations for an imminent rate cut.
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded 9:30 p.m. EST) |
| Bitcoin BTC/USD | -1.36% | $42,139 |
| Ethereum ETH/USD | -3.24% | $2,253 |
| Dogecoin DOGE/USD | -1.90% | $0.078 |
What Happened: The Federal Reserve maintained its benchmark fed funds rate range at 5.25%-5.5% after the initial Federal Open Market Committee gathering of the year. Market observers eagerly awaited indications of a potential rate cut, with many anticipating it to occur at the upcoming meeting in March.
“Based on the meeting today,” said Powell at his post-meeting press conference, “I don’t think it’s likely that the committee will reach a level of confidence by the time of the March meeting to identify March as the time to [cut].”
Following the statement, risk assets, including cryptocurrencies, experienced a sudden decline. Bitcoin plummeted to $42,100.
Top Gainer (24 Hour)
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded 9:30 p.m. EDT) |
| Monero RNDR/USD | +4.08% | $165.17 |
| Ronin FXS/USD | +3.34% | $2.78 |
| Mina GNO/USD | +2.64% | $1.14 |
The global cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.51 trillion, showing a 8.29% decrease in the past 24 hours.
Stocks dipped on Wednesday following Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s indication that the central bank is unlikely to cut rates in March.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average concluded the day down by 317.01 points, or 0.82%, at 38,150.30. While the S&P 500 declined by 1.61% to 4,845.65, the Nasdaq Composite experienced a 2.23% drop, ending the session at 15,164.01.
The Treasury yields fluctuated, with the benchmark 10-year yield recently hovering around 3.9%. Meanwhile, Alphabet experienced a decline of over 7%, marking its poorest performance since Oct. 25. This was attributed to underwhelming ad revenue, which overshadowed the better-than-expected earnings and sales. Similarly, shares of tech companies Microsoft and AMD decreased by nearly 3% each due to lower-than-anticipated forward guidance following their quarterly results.
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Analyst Notes: Cryptocurrency analyst, Michael Van de Poppe foresees Ethereum poised to reach $3,500-4,000 within the next 3-6 months.
"Although inflation has come down, the Fed signaled today that it has not yet secured price stability, and will hold off cutting rates for now," stated Zach Pandl, the head of research at Grayscale Investments. "This will likely strengthen the dollar over the short-term, and may be a temporary headwind for bitcoin."
On-chain analyst Ali Martinez said as we approach the Bitcoin Halving in April 2024, here are four key points to consider:
- Post-halving corrections: After the 2016 and 2020 halvings, #BTC experienced corrections of 30% and 7% within a month.
- 2. Significant post-halving rallies: Following the 2012, 2016, and 2020 halvings, $BTC surged by 11,000%, 2,850%, and 700%.
- 3. Bull market durations: The bull markets after each halving lasted 365 days, 518 days, and 549 days, respectively.
- 4. The next market top: If the upcoming bull market follows historical trends, we might anticipate the next Bitcoin market top around April or October 2025.
Photo by Igor Faun on Shutterstock
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