Bitcoin Surges Past $80,000 as Fed Hints at Rate Pause
Bitcoin price surged past $80,000 on Thursday as traders responded to comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller. In prepared remarks at a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker interview, Waller said he'd be 'inclined to support' holding the Fed's benchmark interest rate at its current level if upcoming inflation data keeps improving.
The odds of a rate hike at the Fed's September 15-16 meeting fell to 50.4%, down from 63.2% a day earlier, according to the CME FedWatch tool. This sparked a rally in the U.S. stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 453 points and major indexes gaining close to 1%. The tech sector saw significant gains, led by Nvidia's confirmation of a roughly $13 billion deal to buy AI model hub Hugging Face.
The crypto market followed suit, with Bitcoin up around 3% over 24 hours. Ethereum is closing in on $2,500, while XRP has seen a 6% increase in the past day. However, this rally comes at the expense of short sellers, who have been forced to buy back positions as rising prices limit their losses.
CoinGlass data shows more than $500 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, with short bets accounting for over $415 million of that total. This represents a sharp reversal from just last week, when the market was bracing for a potential interest rate hike and Bitcoin prices had dropped to around $76,877.