- December 31 16%
- October 31 <1%
Bitcoin’s Post-FOMC Rollercoaster Continues as NEAR Dumps 8%: Market Watch
- Published
- Updated
- Since then
- 1 new report
Bitcoin moved sharply after the Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged, briefly jumping before sliding back toward $80,000. Altcoins also weakened, with NEAR and Bitcoin Cash among the largest decliners in the market snapshot.
Key claims & sources
What it means
The Federal Reserve’s rate decision sits at the center of this move because it gives traders a fresh macro reference point for risk assets, including Bitcoin and major altcoins. Bitcoin’s jump and reversal around the $80,000 to $81,800 range shows how closely crypto still tracks broader liquidity expectations on Fed days. For readers, this is another reminder that crypto markets can reprice quickly around US monetary-policy announcements even when the decision itself is widely expected.
For traders and holders of large alt positions, the immediate takeaway is that NEAR and Bitcoin Cash were hit harder than Bitcoin in this session, while names such as Ether, XRP, Solana and Zcash also weakened. That kind of dispersion matters because it forces market participants to watch not just the headline BTC move but the relative performance of individual tokens after macro events. It also shows that a single policy update can ripple through the market without every asset reacting the same way.
The bigger issue is the degree to which a central-bank announcement can still reshape crypto prices in minutes, even though Bitcoin is often marketed as a separate system from traditional finance. This keeps the sector tied to the same macro calendar as stocks and bonds, which can help liquidity but also brings the same instability that traders try to escape. The contrast between BTC’s wobble and BTW’s outperformance also shows that narrow pockets of strength can exist inside a broadly risk-off tape.
Market reaction i
The move was larger before the first headline than after. That is an observation, not an explanation: the market also moves on things nobody publishes.
Coverage timeline
Every piece in order, with the time its news medium declares — if it is not believable we use ours and say so — and what it added to what was already known at that point. Arriving first is not the same as adding something.
What Federal funds rate has done before
| When | What happened | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| 2 months ago | Federal funds rate: 3.75 (+0.12) rise | Sep 2026 |
| 3 months ago | Federal funds rate: 3.63 no change | Aug 2026 |
| 4 months ago | Federal funds rate: 3.63 no change | Jul 2026 |
| 5 months ago | Federal funds rate: 3.63 no change | Jun 2026 |
| 6 months ago | Federal funds rate: 3.63 (-0.01) fall | May 2026 |
FRED series, with the value of each release and its change.
What could happen next i
- December 31 6%
- October 31 3%
- 25 bps increase ▼1 76%
- No change ▲1 22%
- 50+ bps increase 2%
- 25 bps decrease <1%