Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Drop After Fed Minutes Casts Shadow Over Interest Rate Cuts: Top Analyst Says BTC Must Claim $100K To Overcome Bearish Outlook

Leading cryptocurrencies dropped further on Wednesday as Federal Reserve minutes painted a bearish outlook for risk-on assets.

What Happened: Bitcoin dipped below $93,000 during the afternoon hours before swinging back above $94,000 overnight.

The leading cryptocurrency has corrected sharply from the highs of $102,000 hit earlier in the week.

Ethereum fell to an intraday low of $3,209, its lowest since Dec. 20. 

The downtrend triggered liquidations of over $539 million in the last 24 hours, with more than $400 million in upside bets getting wiped out.

Bitcoin’s Open Interest dropped 3.21% in the last 24 hours. A drop in Open Interest, coming alongside a drop in price, also indicated the liquidation of long positions. 

Despite this, over 63% of traders on Binance were going long, according to the Long/Short Ratio, suggesting that they were buying the dip.

The market sentiment remained one of “Greed,” according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index.

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $3.34 trillion, down 1.63% in the last 24 hours.

Stocks recovered after Tuesday’s slump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 106.84 points, or 0.25%, to close at 42,635.20. The S&P 500 added 0.16%, ending at 5,918.25. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite was the outlier, dipping 0.06% to 19,478.88.

These moves coincided with the release of minutes from the Dec. 18 Federal Reserve meeting, which indicated a slower pace of rate cuts through 2025.

Yields on U.S. sovereign debt rose again. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hit 4.7%, its highest since late April.

See More: Best Cryptocurrency Scanners

Analyst Notes: Widely followed cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez said Bitcoin needs to reclaim $100,000 to invalidate the bearish narrative and resume its march to new all-time highs.

In an earlier post, Martinez highlighted the strong resistance offered to the leading cryptocurrency between $98,000 and $100,000.

Michaël van de Poppe, another popular cryptocurrency market commentator, underlined his points of interest on the Bitcoin chart. 

“I expected the markets to break out and start the bull at $100,000, but nope,” Van De Poppe said. “Likely taking liquidity beneath the lows and revert back upwards. $90-92,000 is the region.”

Photo by Igor Faun on Shutterstock

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