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Bitcoin jumped above $29,000 yesterday to chart a new nine-month high, but that was short-lived and the asset retraced hard in the following hours.
Most altcoins are deep in the red as well, with SOL, APT, LDO, OKB, and others dropping by over 5%.
Bitcoin Fails at $29K
The primary cryptocurrency’s climb had culminated at jumping to $28,800 mid-week ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on whether to continue to increase the interest rates. As many local banks struggled due to the high rates, many experts believed the Fed would finally revert from its policy.
However, that was not the case. The second yearly FOMC meeting copied the first, and the central bank raised the key rates by 25 basis points. Risk-on assets, such as bitcoin, went on a downfall.
The cryptocurrency fell hard by over $2,000 in hours to just over $26,500. Nevertheless, it bounced off and jumped to over $28,000 by Friday. It kept climbing and even briefly spiked above $29,000 (on Bitstamp) for the first time since June last year.
However, it failed there, and the subsequent rejection pushed it south hard. As of now, BTC struggles below $27,500, while its market cap is back down to $530 billion. Its market dominance has increased slightly and stands at just over 46%.
ARB Dumps 20%
Aside from the FOMC meeting, all eyes in the crypto community in the past week were on the long-anticipated Arbitrum airdrop. The token finally launched on Thursday with lots of volatility before it calmed on Friday at around $1.5. However, ARB has plummeted by over 20% in the past 24 hours, currently sitting at $1.2.
Stacks is another massive loser on a daily scale, having dropped by 14% and trading beneath $1. More losses are evident from APT, LDO, OKB, FIL, and SOL – all of which are down by more than 6%.
The larger-cap alts are in the red as well, albeit in a more modest fashion. Ethereum stands at $1,750 after a 2.5% daily retracement. Ripple is among the few exceptions with notable gains, having jumped by 4%.
Overall, the total crypto market cap is down by around $20 billion in a day to $1.150 trillion.
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