Bitcoin held near $64,000 despite the Fed’s hawkish split, Iranian ballistic missiles and an 8% surge in oil overnight that sent the Dow down 2.2% and the Nasdaq to a three-month low.
The crypto market is showing resilience on Thursday, with bitcoin trading little changed at $63,915 and ether dropping just 0.25% since midnight UTC after what might be seen as a difficult session for global risk assets on Wednesday.
The calm, however, masks erratic back-and-forth price swings around the Federal Reserve’s interest rate meeting that flushed out leveraged futures bets, triggering heavy liquidations.
While the rate remained unchanged, three committee members voted for an increase. Higher rates reduce the attractiveness of risky assets.
About $286 million in positions were liquidated in 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Longs accounted for $186 million and shorts $100 million, a balance that signals a market that moved hard in both directions and settled back where it started.
Hours after the FOMC decision, Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles at U.S. troops, prompting President Donald Trump to vow to hit Iran “hard” in response.
Oil surged, erasing Monday’s declines, and U.S. equities fell. Still, S&P 500 and Nasdaq index futures are now slightly positive.
