WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Cryptocurrencies dropped heavily in the past 24 hours as traders reacted to the hawkish tone in the FOMC announcement on Wednesday afternoon. The massive escalation in crude oil prices as well as outflows from U.S.-listed Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot ETF products also weighed on sentiment.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday, in a near-unanimous decision held rates steady at 3.50- 3.75 percent. Though one member preferred to lower the rates by a quarter percentage point, the decision was in line with market expectations. The committee acknowledged the solid pace of expansion in economic activity, the low job gains, the unemployment rate that has been little changed in recent months as well as the somewhat elevated levels of inflation. The committee also noted the uncertainty surrounding the developments in the Middle East for the U.S. economy.
The Fed has raised the GDP growth projection for 2026 to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent made in December. The unemployment rate projection has been retained at 4.4 percent. The Fed expects PCE inflation to jump to 2.7 percent in 2026 from the level of 2.4 percent it had forecast in December. The core PCE is also expected to rise to 2.7 percent from the level of 2.5 percent it had projected at the time of the FOMC in December 2025. However, the projections of the Federal Funds rate remain at 3.4 percent, the same level that was anticipated while drawing up projections in December 2025.
Market sentiment has been heavily impacted by worries about a fuel-driven inflation spike triggering rate hikes by central banks across the world. With renewed attacks on oil infrastructure in the Middle East, Brent crude has jumped almost 60 percent in the past month whereas WTI has surged almost 44 percent during the same period. Though Bank of Japan held rates steady and both Bank of England and European Central Bank are also expected to follow suit on Thursday, the expectations of a rate hike down the line have made a forceful comeback. This has dampened sentiment for cryptocurrencies that are typically non-interest bearing.
Amidst renewed rate hike worries, the CMC Fear and Greed Index, a proprietary tool developed by CoinMarketCap to measure the prevailing sentiment in the cryptocurrency market plunged further in the 'fear' territory. The index has dropped to 32 from 34 a day earlier and 28, a week earlier.
With the FOMC's hawkish outlook and the developments on the war front impacting sentiment towards risky assets, liquidations of long positions in cryptocurrencies have surged. Data from Coinglass shows long positions surpassing short positions in the 24-hour liquidation statistics, implying a sell-off. Crypto liquidations - forced closure of a trader's leveraged position by an exchange or lending protocol for insufficient funds (margin or collateral) to cover potential losses - in the past 24 hours stood at $588 million comprising long positions of $493 million and short positions of $95 million.
Overall cryptocurrency market capitalization has dropped 4.5 percent in the past 24 hours to $2.42 trillion while the 24-hour trading volume jumped 39 percent to $123 billion. Around 75 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are trading with overnight losses of more than a percent whereas only 6 are trading with overnight gains of more than a percent.
Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency is trading 5 percent lower at $70,198.44. The current price is around 44 percent below the all-time high of $126,198.07 recorded on October 7, 2025. The original cryptocurrency has lost 0.4 percent in the past week and is still saddled with losses of 19.8 percent till date in 2026. The 24-hour trading ranged between $74,267.22 and $69,510.21.
Bitcoin Spot ETF products in the U.S. witnessed net outflows of $130 million on Wednesday versus net inflows of $199 million on Tuesday. Fidelity Wise origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) topped with net outflows of $104 million.
Bitcoin is continuing in the 13th position in the global ranking of all assets as per market capitalization published by companiesmarketcap.com.
Ethereum (ETH) slipped 5.9 percent overnight as it traded at $2,177.38. The leading alternate coin is trading 56 percent below the all-time-high of $4,953.73 recorded on August 25, 2025. The 24-hour trading ranged between $2,331.79 and $2,144.36.
Ethereum Spot ETF products in the U.S. witnessed net outflows of $56 million on Wednesday versus net inflows of $138 million on Tuesday. Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) topped with net outflows of $37 million.
Meanwhile, Ethereum has slipped seven notches to 64th position in the global ranking of all assets as per market capitalization published by companiesmarketcap.com.
4th ranked XRP (XRP) slipped 3.2 percent overnight and is currently trading at $1.46, around 62 percent below the all-time high of $3.84 touched on January 4, 2018.
5th ranked BNB (BNB) also lost 3.8 percent overnight resulting in price decreasing to $646.77. BNB is trading 53 percent below the all-time high of $1,370.55 touched on October 13, 2025.
The price of 7th ranked Solana (SOL) decreased 4 percent overnight to $89.91. SOL's current price is around 69 percent below its all-time-high of $294.33 recorded on January 19, 2025.
TRON (TRX) ranked 8th overall shed 0.25 percent overnight and is currently changing hands at $0.3030. The trading price is 31 percent below the cryptocurrency's all-time high of $0.4407 recorded on December 4, 2024.
9th ranked Dogecoin (DOGE) plunged 4.8 percent overnight and is currently trading at $0.0943. DOGE is trading 87 percent below the peak price of $0.7376 recorded on May 8, 2021.
10th ranked Hyperliquid (HYPE) erased 3.9 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at $39.72, around 33 percent below the all-time high of $59.39 recorded on September 18, 2025.
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