Crypto market uncertainty even after Powell relatively dovish

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced the possibility of another couple of rate rises before pausing for the rest of 2023. Bitcoin is still to decide up or down.

An end to rate hikes in sight

The Federal Reserve put rates up 25 basis points on Wednesday, exactly as the market expected, signalling a return to smaller rise increments for the first time since the hikes began.

After the FOMC meeting, Fed Powell said that “a couple more rate hikes” were “probably necessary”, but that any cuts wouldn’t be likely until at least 2024. Powell stated:

“We have more work to do. While recent developments are encouraging, we will need substantially more evidence to be confident that inflation is on a sustained downward path.”

Markets continue to hold trends

Even though a couple more 25 basis point rises may still be on the cards, markets responded positively. The S&P 500 is still consolidating above the downwards trend it began in January of 2022, and the Nasdaq is still managing to hold an 8-month upwards trend.

The crypto market is also holding the gains it has made since the beginning of this year, although it still remains to be seen if bitcoin can break and hold above the all-important level of $25,000.

Over night, bitcoin did have a little spike up, and nearly touched the $24,300 resistance, before coming back down to continue at its current $23,800 level.

Altcoin’s time?

The rest of the crypto market is also currently holding strong. Total market cap looks to be forming a bull flag on the 1-hour chart with the total value of $1.04 trillion putting it at the top limit of the flag.

Ethereum has consolidated overnight, losing as much as 2% in price, but looks to be stabilising. The BTC Dominance chart has started to trend down, currently sitting at 44%. Also, ETH is now beginning to make headway against its BTC pair.

Extremely importantly for the altcoins, the price of the Total 3 market cap, which is the total value of all the altcoins, minus bitcoin and ethereum, is now breaking out. Confirmation of the break will still be needed, but with BTC Dominance falling this might be the time for altcoins to have a bit more time in the sun.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.