Bitcoin (BTC) began to show new volatility as trading began on Wall Street on March 15, ahead of a pivotal announcement of US Federal Reserve interest rates.
BTC/USD 1-hour candlestick chart (bit stamp). Source: TradingView
Crunch time for the Fed on inflation
Data from Coin-Crypto Markets Pro and Trading Display highlighted a drop of around $500 for BTC/USD after failing to recover $39,000 on the day.
An overnight push to $40,000 had ended in disappointment for bulls, setting the tone for a lackluster performance in the Fed decision.
With inflation spiraling out of control, analysts believed a rate hike of more than 0.25% was unlikely due to the need to maintain equilibrium in a market already bloated by liquidity injections and precarious due to the Russia-Ukraine war .
“Basically, we’re moving forward, but we’ll proceed with caution as we learn about the implications of the war in Ukraine,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. told US lawmakers earlier in March.
Bitcoin was typically volatile in the shortest time frames at the time of writing, but limited in the longer term, and this behavior featured the largest cryptocurrency on many occasions in 2022.
Even Monday’s news that the European Union had rejected a change in law banning the provision of services with Proof-of-Work cryptocurrencies hasn’t changed the status quo.
For popular analyst Matthew Hyland, a decisive breakout of the 2022 range high or low was now necessary to provide a fresh perspective.
The only real move will be when #Bitcoin breaks $46k or falls below $33k
Everything else is just noise!!! pic.twitter.com/ujmVzYQq1v
— Matthew Hyland (@MatthewHyland_) March 15, 2022
“It’s interesting that we spent more time on $46k than $33k,” he said noted as part of further comments.
“Could you make the argument: Demand is rising, selling pressure is decreasing? Either way, it won’t stay in this range forever.”
The Fed’s announcement was to be announced at 2 p.m. GMT on Wednesday, followed by a press conference by Powell half an hour later.
Sentiment “compares” to 2018 bear market
As for Bitcoin and its ranges, a long-term view tried to convince timid market participants that Tuesday wasn’t all that bad.
Related: Bitcoin Has 3 Strikes, But Investors Remain Calm Despite Price Drop
Analyzing the bad sentiment on crypto, the popular Twitter account “Cryptobirb” reasoned that BTC/USD had still managed to post a series of higher highs and higher lows since early 2021.
It’s intriguing how flat $BTC the performance has been up for over a year as the traders sentiment compares to the abysmal depths of the 2018 bear market. #Bitcoin moved sideways, the more depressed the traders became. Yet the market has been made higher and lower pic.twitter.com/0sHLu8nTuB
— CRYPTO₿IRB (@crypto_birb) March 15, 2022
As Coin-Crypto further reported, Bitcoin was trading at just $3,600 this week two years ago — more than ten times lower than it is today.