- BTC falls below $100,000 amid Powell’s Fed comments, causing sell-off and market-wide uncertainty.
- Whale activity is rising as traders monitor BTC resistance at $105,400 to confirm recovery trends.
Bitcoin [BTC] fell below the $100,000 mark on Wednesday evening, December 18, following comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Powell spoke at a news conference declared that the Federal Reserve is not allowed to hold Bitcoin and has no intention of changing the law to that effect.
In response to a question about a potential US government Bitcoin reserve, Powell clarified:
“We are not looking for a change in the law.”
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $101,292down 2.01% in the past 24 hours and 0.18% in the past seven days.
Powell’s comments and the FOMC projections are creating uncertainty in the market
The broader crypto market reacted negatively to Powell’s comments and the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) rate cut projections for 2025.
Powell indicated that the number of expected rate cuts by 2025 would be halved compared to previous projections, causing turmoil in both the cryptocurrency and stock markets. According to Santiment, the announcement led to large-scale sell-offs.
Source:
Altcoins were hit the hardest, with Avalanche, Chainlink and Litecoin losing 16% each and Pepe down 17% in the past 24 hours.
Ethereum [ETH] fell by 6%, while XRP saw a 10% drop. Bitcoin itself broke below the psychological threshold of $100,000, fueling bearish sentiment.
Technical Analysis: Bitcoin’s Critical Resistance Levels
Crypto analyst Ali noted that Bitcoin appears to have broken the head-and-shoulders pattern, which could portend a bearish target of $99,000. However, Ali emphasized that Bitcoin must cross $105,400 to negate the bearish outlook.
The current price movement suggests that traders are closely watching these levels for further confirmation.
Despite the bearish sentiment, market participants remain active. Data from InTheBlok showed that large Bitcoin transactions over $100,000 remain consistent throughout the year.
Whale activity reached a seven-day high of 926.53k BTC on December 16, indicating continued institutional interest.
Source: IntoTheBlock
Market trends: trading volume, open interest and net flows
Mint glass data showed a 39.05% increase in trading volumes, which reached $150.01 billion, reflecting increased activity. However, open interest fell slightly by 1.10%, now at $67.77 billion.
The options markets showed an increase, with options volume rising 33.15% to $4.28 billion, while open interest in options saw a marginal increase of 0.84% to $41.68 billion.
The alternating currents indicate strong accumulation trends. BTC outflows dominated in 2024, with consistent red bars reflecting reduced selling pressure.
On December 19, a net outflow of $43.3 million suggested that traders would move BTC to cold storage, which is a sign of confidence in the asset.
Source: Coinglass
Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price forecast 2024-25
The total crypto market capitalization fell 5% to $3.44 trillion, while trading volumes rose 40% to $251 billion.
The combined data shows that while Bitcoin and the broader market are facing headwinds, traders remain actively engaged and positioning themselves for the next major move.