Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Bitcoin dipped below $96k on Thursday after losing 5% of its value.
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Investors continue to react negatively to the Fed’s projection of only two rate cuts in 2025.
Fed’s Projection Causes Unease in the Market
The cryptocurrency market recorded losses for the second consecutive day this week, with most coins and tokens down by over 5%. Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, dipped below the $96k level on Thursday as the selloff continued.
At press time, BTC is trading at $96,728 and could dip lower if the bearish trend continues. The primary catalyst behind the bearish performance is the Fed’s 2025 projection.
In his press conference on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell projected only two rate cuts for 2025, disappointing investors and causing a selloff in the crypto and stock markets.
Bitcoin briefly climbed above $98k before another leg lower brought prices below $96,000. Altcoins recorded worse performances, with most down 5% or more. The bearish performance saw over $1.1 billion of leveraged positions liquidated from the cryptocurrency market.
JUST IN: Over $1,100,000,000 liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the past 24 hours.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) December 19, 2024
Ether has dropped below $3,500 and trades at $3,374 after losing 8% of its value in the last 24 hours. XRP is down 3%, losing its third position in the market to USDT as its market cap dropped to $130 billion.
Dogecoin (DOGE) is the worst performer in the top 10, down 12% to trade at $0.3169 per coin. With Solana, BNB, Cardano, and Tron all struggling, the total cryptocurrency market cap has dropped to the $3.3 trillion region.
