Lack of Direction: Americas Crypto Market Outlook

By Omkar Godbole (All times are in Eastern Time unless specified otherwise) The cryptocurrency market is currently without a clear direction. Bitcoin, priced at $85,054.32, remains within its uneventful range of $90,000 to $95,000. Moreover, the broader market lacks enthusiasm, as seen in the over 2% decline in both the CoinDesk 20 and CoinDesk 80 indexes. The only major token to experience a gain of over 3% in the last 24 hours is ZEC. This lackluster market activity could be attributed to traders postponing their plans for bullish investments until after the Federal Reserve's interest-rate meeting, which may bring about increased volatility. "Given the potential for significant two-way volatility before and after the FOMC event, our clients who wish to increase their exposure for the first quarter of 2026 prefer to delay execution until after the event. We anticipate that this trend will significantly increase towards the end of the week," stated Dick Lo, founder of TDX Strategies, in a market note. The Federal Reserve meeting commences today and will conclude tomorrow, with a 25 basis-point rate cut already factored into the market. Some traders are concerned that the decision may be accompanied by forward guidance that is more hawkish, indicating a slower easing in 2026. According to CF Benchmarks, these expectations could set the stage for a potential rally. "Looking at Fed funds futures, the market is currently pricing in a rate cut on Wednesday but not another one until June. We believe there is room for upside if the Fed signals the possibility of another cut before the June meeting, which becomes more likely if the labor market continues to soften and inflation expectations remain between 2-3%," the index provider said in an email to CoinDesk. Key metrics, such as the cumulative volume delta (CVD), indicate the continued dominance of sellers in the spot market. "Spot flows remain weak. The spot CVD has dropped from -$40M to -$111M, signaling persistent sell flow even as the price holds at $90K," said Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN. In other news, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin's proposal to make Ethereum transactions more predictable and create a trustless on-chain gas futures market has garnered significant attention. Crypto exchange KuCoin has released a Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Gateway proof-of-concept, an experimental prototype gateway system designed to integrate quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms. In traditional markets, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has continued to increase, reaching three-month highs, and the yen has traded weakly despite expectations of a rate hike by the Bank of Japan. Stay alert! Read more: For an analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today. What to Watch For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead". Token Events For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead". Conferences For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead". Market Movements Bitcoin Stats Technical Analysis Crypto Equities Crypto Treasury Companies ETF Flows Spot BTC ETFs Spot ETH ETFs Source: Farside Investors While You Were Sleeping