$670 Million Liquidated In Crypto As Traders Await Fed Guidance At FOMC

Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market have come under severe pressure in the wake of the FOMC meeting this week. The Bitcoin price has slipped another 6% while testing support at $61,000 while Ethereum is down 8% testing $3,000 support. There’s a deeper correction in the altcoin space with investors expecting a bounce back.

$670 Million Liquidated In Crypto

According to Coinglass data, approximately $670 million was liquidated within the last 24 hours, marking one of the most significant liquidation events witnessed in the past two weeks. Nearly, $500 million in long positions and $170 million in short positions were liquidated.

As per data the broader cryptocurrency market has endured a staggering loss of approximately $600 billion since reaching a peak of $2.9 trillion last week. Tokens such as Ether, BNB, and the meme-crowd favorite Dogecoin have all registered losses during this period.

Analysts at K33 Research suggest that the liquidation of bullish derivative positions may not have concluded yet, potentially posing a significant obstacle to any swift recovery in the digital asset market. In a note to investors, K33 Research’s Anders Helseth and Vetle Lunde wrote:

“Risks are thus still considerable for continued amplified downside volatility stemming from long liquidations”.

Bitcoin remained close to its lowest level in approximately two weeks, experiencing a lackluster performance influenced by decreasing inflows into Bitcoin ETFs. Additionally, apprehensions regarding the diminishing possibility of interest-rate cuts in the United States have contributed to the subdued market sentiment surrounding the cryptocurrency.

Despite this, big market players have continued to accumulate Bitcoins at every fall. On Tuesday, March 19, Microstrategy announced an additional purchase of 9,245 Bitcoins with the company now holding 1% of the total BTC supply.

What to Expect from FOMC?

The Federal Reserve is most likely to refrain from indicating an immediate rate cut during its upcoming meeting this week. Rather it will prioritize its attention on persistent inflation rates while monitoring the gradual increase in unemployment figures.

At the two-day policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, interest rates are anticipated to remain within the range of 5.25% to 5.5%, marking a two-decade high initially reached in July. The decision on rates and the release of economic forecasts are scheduled for 2 p.m. in Washington. Following this, Chair Jerome Powell will host a press conference 30 minutes later, as per the Bloomberg report.