(Kitco News) – Volatility continued in financial markets on Tuesday as investors eyed the start of the July Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where Fed representatives met to discuss their outlook for interest rates. They are set to announce their decision on Wednesday, with CME FedWatch data showing Wall Street expects the central bank to hold rates steady for the time being.
But with expectations for a rate cut in September now at 100%, Wednesday’s post-meeting press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be closely watched for any hints suggesting a further delay, which would likely negatively impact financial markets. After positive June inflation data, the market appears certain that a cut is on the table, and the debate now centers on the timing and number of cuts this year.
After the major indices opened higher, the S&P and Nasdaq fell into the red as midday approached, hampered by lackluster earnings reports and the ongoing rotation into small caps. At the closing bell, the Dow finished up 0.50% while the S&P and Nasdaq lost 0.50% and 1.28%, respectively.
Data provided by TradingView shows that an attempt by Bitcoin (BTC) bulls to hold support at $66,800 failed in the early hours, resulting in a slide to a low of $65,526 in the afternoon, with bears now looking to test the strength of support at $65,000.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $66,124, a decrease of 1.65% on the 24-hour chart.
It’s only a matter of time
A survey of crypto analysts shows that while Bitcoin is struggling to break above resistance at $70,000, it is only a matter of time before the growing number of tailwinds help push it to a new all-time high and into price discovery mode.
$BTC When in doubt, zoom out!
Ascending triangle Breakout/Retest on the Monthly timeframe has already been Confirmed.
A mega bull run is ahead, so trust the process. ?
Long term Target : 170k ✍️#Crypto #Bitcoin #BTC pic.twitter.com/7d8GTX69fT— Captain Faibik (@CryptoFaibik) July 30, 2024
“Bitcoin is still on track for a September breakout,” tweeted market analyst Rekt Capital. “History suggests that a breakout from the ReAccumulation Range mere ~100 days after the Halving was always going to be unlikely.”
A more detailed perspective was offered by market analyst ArmanShabanTrading, who looks for Bitcoin to stabilize in its current range before heading higher.
“Analyzing the #Bitcoin chart on the weekly timeframe, we observe that after entering our targeted supply zone, the price experienced an initial correction and dropped to $63,500,” he said. “Subsequently, it encountered increased demand and was able to rise to $70,000 yesterday.”
“As we know, $70K is a significant psychological resistance level, so the price reacted to it and is currently trading around $66,600,” he said. “We need to see if the price can stabilize above the support range of $62,700 to $63,500. If it holds above this support level, we can anticipate further growth in Bitcoin, with the next targets being $72,000, $73,777, and $77,000.”
And chartist Inmortal encouraged the community to hold off on their calls for a rapid rise in Bitcoin price as longer consolidations lead to bigger moves.
I know most of you want a god candle.
But, the best thing that could happen to us is more consolidation.
The bigger the consolidation, the bigger the expansion.$BTC pic.twitter.com/7l5WkNiY46— Inmortal (@inmortalcrypto) July 30, 2024
Red Tuesday for altcoins
It was a red day for altcoins as most tokens in the top 200 recorded losses, with only three tokens seeing gains greater than 4%.
Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360
Compound (COMP) led the gainers with an increase of 7.3%, followed by a gain of 6.7% for BinaryX (BNX) and an increase of 5.6% for Book of Meme (BOME). Flux (FLUX) was the biggest loser, falling 9.4%, while Raydium (RAY) declined by 9%, and Jupiter (JUP) lost 8.6%.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.35 trillion, and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 55%.
