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Bitcoin hits three-week high as investors price in 99% chance of Fed rate hold

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(Kitco News) - Volatile trading in the crypto market extended for a second day as the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting got underway, with investors now pricing in a 99% chance that the Fed will hold rates steady at their current level according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Stocks slid lower as traders wait to see what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says about the outlook for interest rates and whether there have been any notable changes made to the central bank’s “dot plot” projections.

At the close of markets, the S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq all finished in the red, down 0.22%, 0.31%, and 0.23%, respectively.

Data provided by TradingView shows that Bitcoin (BTC) bulls mounted an early morning charge that saw the top crypto hit a daily high of $27,505 – its highest level in September – before profit-taking resulted in a pullback to support near $27,100.

BTC/USD Chart by TradingView

The early morning momentum pushed “September Bitcoin futures prices [to] a three-week high,” according to Kitco senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, who said, “Prices have seen a good rebound from the recent six-month low.”

Bitcoin futures 1-day chart. Source: Kitco

“A price downtrend on the daily bar chart has stalled out and prices are starting to trend higher,” Wyckoff said. “The bulls have some upside momentum.”

According to MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe, the fact that BTC was able to hold support at $26,000 is a good sign that it could soon climb higher.

But market analyst Rekt Capital still sees a fractal formation on the Bitcoin chart that indicates it will soon head lower, even if it first manages to rally “as high as ~$29,000 before additional downside.”

BTC/USD 1-week chart. Source: Twitter

Market analyst Crypto Tony has also been warning about one final flush-out that could see BTC hit a low of $20,000 but said he remains long until it breaks below support at $26,800.

A field of green in the altcoin market

It was an overall green day for the top 200 altcoins as only four tokens recorded losses greater than 3% while the vast majority saw gains.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Bluzelle led the gainers with an increase of 16.4% to trade at $0.204, while Storj (STORJ) climbed 11.9% and Galxe (GAL) gained 9.3%. Akash Network (AKT), Merit Circle (MC), Worldcoin (WLD), and Centrifuge (CFG) recorded the biggest losses with declines of 4%, 3.6%, 3.4%, and 3.1%, respectively.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.08 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 49.2%.

By

Jordan Finneseth

For Kitco News

Contact jfinneseth@kitco.com
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.