Hawkish FOMC Meeting Signals Rate Hikes
The cryptocurrency market traded in the red on Wednesday following the release of the minutes from June’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The minutes revealed that almost all Fed officials believe that additional increases in the target federal funds rate would be appropriate in 2023, with some even favoring a rate hike in June. This hawkish tone put pressure on stocks as well, with the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq all closing lower.
Bitcoin Price Breaks Support Levels
Bitcoin’s price experienced a decline, dropping below support at $30,900 and reaching a low of $30,290. However, bulls managed to push the price back above $30,500 in the afternoon. According to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, the current pause and choppy trading at higher levels is not bearish and suggests that the bulls are preparing for another push higher in the near term.
Resistance Levels for BTC
MN Trading analyst Luuk Koolen provided insight into the major resistance levels for Bitcoin. He identified two resistance zones around $34.4k and $37k, with the latter also being the end of the monthly fair value gap (FVG). If Bitcoin can break through both resistance levels, Koolen expects the price to seek liquidity around $48k.
Altcoins Experience Sell-Off
Altcoins faced a sell-off as traders interpreted the hawkish tone from the Fed as a signal to take profits. The majority of tokens in the top 200 traded in the red, except for a few outliers. Verge (XVG), Solar (XSP), and Threshold (T) were notable gainers, while Storj (STORJ) and BitDAO (BIT) experienced declines.
Market Cap and Bitcoin’s Dominance Rate
The overall cryptocurrency market cap is currently at $1.19 trillion, with Bitcoin’s dominance rate standing at 49.8%.
