The crypto market, ahead of the U.S. FOMC meeting, remained volatile on Wednesday. Bitcoin showed a marginal gain of 1.13 percent over the last 24 hours but it also recorded an hourly loss of 0.73 percent. At the time of writing, the asset was trading at $76,990 after hitting $77,889 earlier in the day.
Speaking to Coin Headlines, market analysts said that BTC saw another failed breakout attempt against the backdrop of dampened risk appetite among investors around the Fed meetings. The markets reacted quickly to the Fed retaining interest rates at 3.5 percent and 3.75 percent.
“Bitcoin briefly climbed above $79,000 on Monday but failed to hold those gains as traders took profits after repeated resistance rejections. The broader market volatility intensified with Brent crude surging past $110 per barrel. Meanwhile, outflows from Bitcoin ETFs ended a nine-day streak just ahead of the FOMC meeting,” said Piyush Walke, Derivatives Research Analyst, Delta Exchange. “Without a clear catalyst from the Fed or earnings, Bitcoin’s rejections at $79,000 suggest a defined range rather than precede one.”
Ether price rose by 1.65 percent in the last 24 hours. With this, the asset’s price has come to $2,313 as of press time, data by CoinMarketCap showed. Ether’s seven-day average price has dipped by 3.61 percent.
Tron, Hyperliquid, Zcash, Cronos, and World Liberty Financial are among altcoins that registered losses of under two percent in the last 24 hours. Aave and Algorand also witnessed small losses alongside BTC and ETH on Wednesday.
As per industry experts, the Fed’s Wednesday decision and megacap earnings from Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Apple Inc. will act as key catalysts for the markets this week.
“Crypto assets are consolidating below recent highs, dampening speculative flows but not long-term positioning. This divergence signals maturation: liquidity is concentrating, risk appetite is selective, and stablecoins remain foundational as investors prepare for the next directional move across global digital asset markets,” Sathvik Vishwanath, Co-Founder and CEO, Unocoin told Coin Headlines.
Tokens trading in small gains of under one percent, meanwhile, include XRP, BNB, Solana, and Hyperliquid. Dogecoin roped-in a profit of 8.41 percent in the last 24 hours bringing its price to $0.107 as of press time.
Litecoin, Avalanche, Hedera, Shiba Inu, and Toncoin on the other hand, managed to retain profits of around three percent each over the last day.
Amid the prevailing instability, the market valuation rose by 1.25 percent in the last 24 hours, bringing the crypto market cap to $2.58 trillion, CoinMarketCap showed.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Over $78.6 million and $69.6 million were liquidated respectively from the BTC and ETH ecosystems, data by CoinGlass showed on Wednesday. More than 81,790 traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours with total liquidations touching $250 million.
The fear and greed index score of 42 reflected a neutral sentiment among traders at the time of writing.
The Fed meetings were scheduled for April 28 and April 29. The probability that the U.S. Fed will keep interest rates unchanged at its April meeting had climbed to 99.5 percent this month, data tracked by the CME Group had claimed earlier.
