Key Insights:
- It was a bullish Wednesday session for the crypto top ten, with Ethereum (ETH) leading a broad-based crypto breakout.
- The US Federal Reserve delivered the market boost, with bitcoin (BTC) striking a day high of $23,102 in response.
- Having fallen back to a low of $924 billion on Tuesday, $78 billion poured into the market to take the market cap to $1,035 billion.
It was a bullish Wednesday session for the crypto top ten. Bitcoin (BTC) visited $23,000 for the first time since Friday, with Ethereum (ETH) bouncing back to $1,600.
Following the market reaction to Walmart’s (WMT) gloomy outlook on Tuesday, the global financial markets responded favorably to the Fed’s 75-basis point rate hike on Wednesday.
A rate hike in line with expectations and hopes of a slower pace of rate hikes delivered the market boost.
The crypto market tracked the NASDAQ 100 through the US session before extending gains post the US-market close. Investors seemed undeterred by the Fed’s commitment to bring inflation to target at any cost.
On Wednesday, the NASDAQ 100 surged by 4.06%. At the time of writing, the NASDAQ 100 Mini was down 34.5 points.
The Total Crypto Market Cap Gets Fed-Fueled $78 Billion Boost
On Wednesday, the crypto market came under early pressure before enjoying a breakout session.
The total crypto market cap fell to an early low of $945 billion before surging to a high of $1,040 billion.
Market reaction to the Fed policy decision and Fed Chair Powell’s comments was evident, with the market cap surging by $38 billion in the hour following the decision.
Barring a crypto meltdown, the Wednesday jump all but assures an end to a three-month losing streak. For July, the total market cap is currently up $170 billion.
The Crypto Market Movers and Shakers from the Top Ten and Beyond
ETH surged by 12.88% to lead the top ten, with SOL (+10.98%) and ADA (+9.19%) close behind.
BNB (+8.86%), BTC (+7.68%), DOGE (+7.57%), and XRP (+6.28%) also made solid gains.
From the CoinMarketCap top 100, it was a rare bullish session, with only stablecoins seeing modest declines.
Lido DAO (LDO) led the way, surging by 33.00%. Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Synthetix (SNX), and Uniswap (UNI) weren’t far behind. ETC jumped by 30.91%, with SNX and Uni up by 25.90% and 20.57%, respectively.
Total Crypto Liquidations Continued Upward Trend Over 24-Hours
On Thursday, 24-hour liquidations increased, reflecting a choppy start to the Wednesday session. Market reaction to the Fed policy decision and Powell’s comments led to improving market conditions, evident in the one-hour and four-hour liquidation figures.
This morning, 24-hour liquidations stood at $317 million, up from $207 million on Wednesday. While higher, liquidation over the last 12 hours was $265 million.
Liquidated traders increased over the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, liquidated traders stood at 78,656 versus 73,706 on Wednesday morning.
However, one-hour and four-hour liquidations painted a better picture, reflecting the Fed-fueled market rally.
According to Coinglass, four-hour liquidations stood at $36.06 million, up from $24.01 million on Wednesday. One-hour liquidations stood at $2.96 million, down from $4.41 million. (See hourly crypto market cap chart below).
