Cryptocurrency Market Struggles After Fed's Cautious Stance: Americas Crypto Daybook

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless specified otherwise) The cryptocurrency market is facing challenges in finding stability after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that a further interest rate cut in December is not a certainty, following the central bank's 25 basis point reduction. Bitcoin, currently at $85,237.87, has dropped 2.5% over the past 24 hours to $110,200, while the broader market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, has lost 1.7%. Although Wednesday's rate cut was anticipated, Powell's reservations about additional easing measures led to a pullback in risk assets, despite President Donald Trump's signals that trade tensions with China are easing. The resulting volatility led to over $820 million in cryptocurrency market liquidations over the past 24 hours, with equities indexes experiencing slight declines and gold struggling to remain above $4,000. However, the central bank also announced that it will end its balance sheet runoff by December 1, a move that could increase liquidity in financial markets. According to Spanish bank Bankinter, traditional asset prices are being held back by 'altitude sickness.' 'The next 48 hours should be spent digesting the vast amount of information, particularly corporate earnings and central bank news,' the bank's analysts noted. 'The underlying trend is to react positively, with the only constraint being the 'altitude sickness' from new highs.' For cryptocurrency, lofty heights are not a concern, given that bitcoin is trading 13% below its all-time high, which it reached less than a month ago. QCP Capital attributes this to muted enthusiasm. 'The October 10 flash crash left both retail and institutional players cautious, and order book liquidity has yet to recover,' the firm's analysts wrote. 'Meanwhile, digital asset treasuries are adding to sell pressure as many trade below 1 mNAV.' These discounts could lead to more digital asset treasuries buying back shares using funds from asset sales. Earlier this week, Ether treasury firm ETHZilla made headlines by selling $40 million in ETH to repurchase shares at a discount to NAV. The upcoming $13 billion options expiry on Friday is also adding pressure to cryptocurrency prices. According to Deribit data, market makers are exposed to negative gamma at strike prices between $100,000 and $111,000. This setup could lead to hedging activity amplifying price swings by the end of the week. Remain vigilant! Key Events to Watch For a comprehensive list of events this week, refer to CoinDesk's 'Crypto Week Ahead'. Token Events For a comprehensive list of events this week, refer to CoinDesk's 'Crypto Week Ahead'. Conferences For a comprehensive list of events this week, refer to CoinDesk's 'Crypto Week Ahead'. Token Talk By Oliver Knight Derivatives Positioning Market Movements Bitcoin Statistics Technical Analysis Crypto Equities Crypto Treasury Companies ETF Flows Spot BTC ETFs Spot ETH ETFs Source: Farside Investors While You Were Sleeping