Bitcoin Reclaims $35K As FOMC Maintains Status Quo
By Kapil Rajyaguru
Leading virtual digital assets (VDAs), moved higher this morning led by Bitcoin’s latest rally to 17-month high, which was triggered by the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged. The rate setting committee – FOMC – pulled no surprises on Wednesay as it kept policy on hold but promised a continued focus on bringing inflation to heel.
Cheerleading the announcement was Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, racing to reclaim $35,000 mark. It is currently charging hands at $35,465.61 up 2.67%.
Ethereum (ETH), the second largest crypto in market value, rose 1.46% at $1,847.82.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left its benchmark fed funds rate range steady at 5.25%-5.50% on Wednesday, which was widely anticipated.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at rate hike “if necessary” but pointed to rise in bond yields helped suck out excess liquidity present in the system.
Elsewhere, the altcoins continued to rally led by the sharp rise in Solana (SOL), which soared 16%, while Avalanche’s (AVAX), Polkadot’s (DOT) and Near Protocol’s (NEAR) added 6% to 10% respectively. Decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens – which were laggards during October – also popped, with uniswap (UNI) and aave (AAVE) advancing 15% and 10%, respectively.
The global crypto market cap increased 2.36% to $1.31 tn, over the last 24-hours. Simultaneously, the total crypto market volume gained 31.28% to $53.66 bn. The total volume in DeFi is currently $5.34 bn and all stablecoins $47.94 bn, representing 9.96% and 89.35% respectively, of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 52.89%, up 0.18% over the day.
IC15 index, the barometer of top fifteen tokens, jumped 2.18% to 43,783.09.
Meanwhile, analysts don’t expect Fed to hike interest rate further. Market participants now see 74% probability that the Fed will leave rates at the current level in January.
Apparently, the U.S. equities ended higher, with the S&P 500 index up 1.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gaining 1.5%. 10-year U.S. Treasury yields buckled to 4.73%, down from near 5% earlier this week, pricing in the lower odds of further hikes.
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