BTC targets $75K support following Fed's hawkish stance as crude prices surge to 2022 peaks
Bitcoin's price struggled to maintain strength while the Federal Reserve delivered its most aggressive policy stance in years and crude oil climbed to levels unseen in nearly four years amid US-Iran tensions.
Bitcoin (BTC) was unable to establish fresh support levels on Thursday while crude oil prices climbed to their highest marks in close to four years.
Key points:
- Bitcoin faces challenges in recovering recently lost territory while geopolitical tensions impact market sentiment.
- Spot markets for UK Brent crude oil achieve their strongest levels since June 2022.
- Jerome Powell's Federal Reserve interest-rate announcement is characterized as his "most hawkish in years."
Bitcoin declines following Fed's "most hawkish" policy meeting
TradingView data revealed BTC/USD hovering around the $76,000 mark, registering approximately 2% decline from the prior day's peak.
The convergence of elevated crude prices and the US Federal Reserve's "most hawkish" policy session in years maintained a dampened outlook for risk-asset enthusiasm.
Both developments stemmed from the continuing US-Iran war, with no apparent path toward settlement.
"Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!" US President Donald Trump wrote in one of his latest posts on Truth Social.
Within this environment of heightened tensions, Brent crude oil in spot markets surpassed $120 per barrel for the first occurrence since June 2022.
"Asia is facing its worst even crisis in history and Europe has just weeks worth of jet fuel left. The US is exporting record amounts of oil as a result," trading resource The Kobeissi Letter responded in a post on X.
"Inflation is back."
Concerns surrounding inflation represented key determining factors influencing Fed officials during Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, at which they maintained interest rates at current levels.
Although markets had anticipated this decision, analysts highlighted a deteriorating landscape for risk appetite resulting from evolving Fed policy direction.
Nic Puckrin, CEO and cofounder of crypto education platform Coin Bureau, characterized the FOMC meeting — the final one with Jerome Powell as Chair — as his "most hawkish in years."
"For the first time since 1992, 4 Federal Reserve members dissented the decision," he noted.
According to Puckrin, the Fed's "soft landing" approach to managing inflation had also been abandoned.
"Rates held for the third straight meeting, but the direction of travel just changed," he summarized.
Trump continued his criticisms of Powell following the announcement, labeling him "too late" in implementing rate cuts prior to the anticipated transition to Kevin Warsh.
As Cointelegraph reported, Trump said that he "would" be disappointed if Warsh did not cut rates at his first FOMC meeting in June.
BTC price 21-day trend line hangs in the balance
BTC price action continued to honor the 21-day simple moving average (SMA) positioned near $75,500 during overnight trading.
This support line represented the critical question for trading resource Material Indicators when analyzing low time frames.
"Will support hold?" it queried in an X post alongside order-book liquidity data for Binance.
The information revealed whale order classes generally accumulating during the dip, whereas smaller order classes decreased their exposure.
