What happened
Today’s price action in risk assets has taken many of the major cryptocurrencies on an impressive ride. main tabs Bitcoin (BTC 1.39%), Ethereal (ETH) 2.90%)Y dogecoin (DOGE 0.23%) have been among the top gainers in the cryptocurrency sector, posting gains of 4.6%, 8.3%, and 6.1%, respectively, in the past 24 hours as of 1:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.
These moves, coupled with impressive bullish momentum in other riskier asset classes, are a direct result of yesterday’s rather dovish 25 basis point hike by the Federal Reserve. While still a rate hike, the pace of monetary policy tightening has slowed, with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell hinting at an eventual pause after a “couple more” rate hikes.
Powell highlighted some encouraging signs that inflation has started to come down. Consequently, given the invariably long lags that affect policymaking, the measures taken by the Fed to calm inflation last year appear to be working.
For riskier assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin, this type of macroeconomic situation is positive, and investors are piling in today.
And
The Fed’s decisions have had extremely negative effects for a wide range of assets in 2022. Whether it’s unperforming tech companies, meme stocks, cryptocurrencies, or other more interest rate-sensitive assets, aggressive growth investors have been hit hard. very affected.
This is because as money becomes more expensive, speculative capital tends to rotate to more defensive areas of the market, as the minimum rate of return for investors increases and valuations begin to matter.
However, if easy money policies are on the horizon (or investors speculate they are), then a self-fulfilling momentum rally could be on the cards.
That is what investors seem to be betting on today, with renewed hopes for a pause and pivot scenario that sends these tokens much higher this afternoon.
Now what
The hangover crypto investors felt in 2022 after the awesome party of 2021 seemed to have dissipated. Now the question is whether the punch bowl of the Federal Reserve (accommodative monetary policy) will return. Today’s incredibly bullish risk sentiment in the market seems to suggest that many investors believe this will be the case.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are different assets, with completely different blockchain technologies, consensus mechanisms, and reasons for their existence. But right now, the macroeconomic catalysts are steering the ship when it comes to the returns on these individual tokens.
