WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crypto market sentiment remains subdued as world markets brace for the decision of the Federal Open Market Committee. The Fed in its decision to be announced on Wednesday afternoon is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold. However, in the first FOMC to take place after the inauguration of the new administration in the U.S., market spotlight is undoubtedly on the Fed's forward guidance on interest rates.
The CME FedWatch tool that tracks the expectations of interest rate traders shows a 98.5 percent likelihood of a pause by the Fed in the current review. For the review due in March, the probability of a rate cut increases to 32 percent. At current expectations, there is a 50 percent rate cut likelihood in May. Rate cut expectations firm up further as the year progresses and only a 24-percent probability is assigned to the Fed maintaining a status quo on rates in the review in June.
Of interest to markets would be to what extent Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments dent into this edifice of expectation for the current year as well as beyond. Movement in prices of risk assets including Bitcoin could depend to a great extent on the progress in disinflation that the Fed Chief would be ready to acknowledge. Anxiety lingers as recent policy level actions including those concerning immigration are feared to add pressure on the labor market, a key source of price pressures in the economy.
Based on data from the U.S. till January 18, the outstanding initial jobless claim count has increased to 1.9 million which is the most since November of 2021. Fears about the impact of restrictive interest rates by the Fed on the U.S. labor market linger even as the unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent in December 2024 versus 3.7 percent in January 2024.
Overall crypto market capitalization has decreased 1.5 percent overnight to $3.45 trillion. The 24-hour trading volume has also decreased 18 percent to $113 billion. Bitcoin slipped 0.74 percent overnight to trade at $101,815.19, around 7 percent below the all-time high. BTC has lost 2.2 percent in the past week. The leading cryptocurrency traded between $103,730.82 and $100,238.19 in the past 24 hours.
Data from Farside Investors showed that Bitcoin Spot ETF products in the U.S. witnessed inflows of $18 million on Tuesday versus outflows of $458 million on Monday. Not much activity was noticed in the space with iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recording inflows of $30 million and Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) recording outflows of $12 million.
Ethereum declined 2.3 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at $3,100.48 around 37 percent below the previous peak recorded in November 2021. The leading alternate coin is also grappling with weekly losses of 5.6 percent. Ether traded between $3,211.33 and $3,040.09 in the past 24 hours.
Ethereum Spot ETF products in the U.S. witnessed no transactions on Tuesday as compared with outflows of $136 million on Monday.
3rd ranked XRP (XRP) erased more than 3 percent overnight to trade at $3.05, around 21 percent below the all-time high touched in January 2018. The cryptocurrency is saddled with losses of 3.9 percent over the past week.
The price of 5th ranked Solana (SOL) dropped 4.1 percent overnight. With weekly losses of 12.7 percent, SOL is currently trading at $226.91, around 23 percent below its record high on January 19, 2025.
6th ranked BNB (BNB) decreased 0.93 percent overnight at its current trading price of $666.05. BNB is currently trading 16 percent below the all-time high of $793.35 touched on December 4, 2024.
8th ranked Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 2.6 percent overnight to trade at $0.3232. Having lost 10.5 percent in the past week, DOGE is trading 56 percent below the previous peak scaled in May 2021.
9th ranked Cardano (ADA) lost 4.2 percent overnight to trade at $0.9175. ADA is currently trading 70 percent below the record high touched in September 2021.
10th ranked TRON (TRX) slipped 3.2 percent overnight to trade at $ 0.2379. TRX has lost 6.4 percent in the past week. The trading price is 46 percent below the cryptocurrency's all-time high recorded on December 4, 2024.
73rd ranked dogwifhat (WIF) topped overnight gains with a surge of 10.9 percent. 59th ranked Movement (MOVE), 88th ranked Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) and 36th ranked Bittensor (TAO) have all rallied more than 6 percent in the past 24 hours.
71st ranked DeXe (DEXE) topped overnight losses with a decline of 27.8 percent. 61st ranked Jupiter (JUP), 54th ranked Raydium (RAY) and 66th ranked XDC Network (XDC) have all shed more than 10 percent in the past 24 hours.
For More Cryptocurrency News, visit rttnews.com
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
