Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Breathe A Sigh Of Relief After Fed Meeting — Here Is Why The Apex Coin May Have Bottomed Out

Bitcoin BTC/USD and other major coins traded higher on Wednesday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap rose 0.3% to $1.8 trillion. 

What Happened: The apex coin traded 0.7% higher over 24 hours at $37,066.50 over 24 hours. For the week, it has fallen 11%.

Ethereum ETH/USD rose 1.9% higher over 24 hours at $2,495.30 over 24 hours. Over a seven-day trailing period, it has declined 19.4%.

Meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin DOGE/USD was up 0.3% over 24 hours at $0.14 over 24 hours. Over a seven-day trailing period, it has fallen 11.1%.

DOGE-rival Shiba Inu (SHIB) rose 1.1% over 24 hours to $0.00002. For the week, it has dropped 21.9%.

The three top gainers over 24 hours were Theta Fuel (TFUEL), Waves (WAVES), and Decred (DCR), according to CoinGecko data.

TFUEL shot up 41.4% to $0.182, WAVES rose 23.5% to $10.42, and DCR was up 19.4% to $64.89 in the period.

See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

Why It Matters: On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve left the benchmark interest rate unchanged after the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting concluded.

A rate hike may be in the offing as the FOMC said that with, “inflation well above 2% percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.8709% after the Fed statement. The dollar rose to a three-week high with the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six of its peers, rising 0.58%.

Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANDA noted that “calm is entering crypto markets” after Fed left rates unchanged. 

“Bitcoin has steadied this week and optimism is brewing in the cryptoverse that a strong altcoin season could be coming if Bitcoin can stabilize between the $40,000 and $50,000 trading range,” the analyst wrote, in an emailed note.

Moya’s colleague at OANDA Craig Erlam said separately that Bitcoin is not out of the woods yet. Only time will tell if the apex coin tests the crucial $30,000 region but for now the cryptocurrency’s recovery has been “really encouraging.” 

“Traders will be very relieved at what they've seen this week. The key test above is $40,000, a break of which could see momentum accelerate to the upside,” the senior market analyst wrote, in a note seen by Benzinga.

The “Crypto Fear & Greed Index” by Alternative signaled “Extreme Fear” at press time. A value of 0 on the index means Extreme Fear, while a value of 100 implies Extreme Greed. The index stood at 20 at press time, while on Monday it had a value of 11.

Amsterdam-based cryptocurrency analyst Michaël van de Poppe tweeted Wednesday that Bitcoin must flip the $37,600 level to re-enter a bullish phase.

When we're looking at a bit higher timeframes for #Bitcoin.

Rejected at the crucial resistance around $38K.

Dropped south, making important support levels $36K and $34K.

If we want to become bullish -> Flip $37.6K is first step. pic.twitter.com/CCWo0CnkYF

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) January 26, 2022

Long-term holders of Bitcoin are in pain, according to Delphi Digital. Long-term holders in loss now account for 17% of all holders, a level not seen since May 2020.

Short-term holders are mostly in loss, which was last observed in July 2021, according to the independent research firm. 

Percent of Long-Term and Short-Term BTC Holders In Profit Or Loss — Courtesy Delphi Digital

“Historically, it’s been a sign that the bottom may be in when both STHs and LTHs peak in losses,” wrote Delphi Digital, in a note.

Meanwhile, on the Ethereum side, whale addresses holding 10,000 or more ETH have added 200,000 ETH to their stockpile, according to a Santiment tweet.

#Ethereum is hovering just below $2,500 once again after bottoming out at ~$2,170 just 3 days ago. #Dipbuyers can be happy knowing that whale addresses holding 10k or more $ETH have added 200k $ETH from weak hands since January 20, worth ~$497.2M.  https://t.co/OhsWeqMFLi pic.twitter.com/FdIY5Hp00K

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 26, 2022

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