Bitcoin, Ethereum Drop While Gold Extends Record Run Following Fed Decision

The broader crypto market fell more than 1%, with liquidations topping $336 million in 24 hours.

• Bitcoin’s price fell below $88,000, with retail sentiment dropping to ‘extremely bearish’ on Stocktwits.
• Ethereum’s price slipped under the closely watched $3,000 level, erasing recent upside momentum.
• Solana led declines among major cryptocurrencies, falling nearly 3%.

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and other major cryptocurrencies fell on Wednesday night while gold prices notched another record high after the Federal Reserve voted to hold interest rates steady.

At his press conference since speaking out against the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) probe against him, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will keep its key lending rate between 3.50% to 3.75%, stating that economic activity in the US "has been expanding at a solid pace".

"We still have some tension between employment and inflation, but it's less than it was,” he told reporters. "The outlook for economic activity has clearly improved since the last meeting."

Crypto Market Takes A Hit

The overall cryptocurrency market slipped 1.1% in the last 24 hours, dropping $3 trillion. The market saw over $336 million in liquidations, according to CoinGlass data. Most of the forced unwinds came from long positions, amounting to $225 million. Bitcoin leveraged trades were the worst hit, with over $136 million wiped out, followed by Ethereum, which saw nearly $50 million liquidations.

Bitcoin Falters While Gold Gains

Bitcoin’s price fell 1.3% in the last 24 hours, falling to around $87,800. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency fell to ‘extremely bearish’ from ‘bearish’ over the past day. 

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s price dropped 1.4% in the last 24 hours, to around $2,960 – slipping below the $3,000 mark, which was being watched as the key resistance level by analysts to see if the leading altcoin could rise to $3,200. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around ETH remained in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day. 

While the leading cryptocurrencies were on the downtrend, gold and silver notched fresh record highs. Gold’s price rose 2.16% during the session, crossing the $5,500 mark for the first time. Meanwhile, silver’s price rose 0.64% to $117 per ounce, paring gains from its intra-day record high of over $119.

The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) gained 2.62% in overnight trading after rising 3.88% in the regular session. It was among the top trending tickers on Stocktwits at the time of writing. Retail sentiment around the fund trended in ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past day, with chatter at ‘extremely high’ levels. 

The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) was also in the green after hours, rising 1.23% after notching a gain of nearly 4% in regular trading hours. SLV also saw retail sentiment in ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past day, with message volumes at ‘extremely high’ levels.

Solana Leads Losses

Other crypto majors were also in the red alongside Bitcoin. Ripple’s native token XRP (XRP) fell 1.2% to $1.88. Retail sentiment around the token also trended in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day. Cardano (ADA) and Dogecoin (DOGE) also took a hit, falling 1.6% and 1.8% respectively.

Solana (SOL) led losses among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, falling 2.8% to around $123.32. Retail sentiment trended in ‘extremely bearish’ territory over the past day on Stocktwits.

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