The Bitcoin price was placid early Wednesday after the Bank of Japan decided "by unanimous vote" to leave its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5%. Now, traders wait to see if Federal Reserve does the same.
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell will deliver his remarks at 2 pm Eastern Time today.
According to CoinGecko, at the time this article was written Bitcoin gained 1,7% for the day. Its value fluctuated between $83,765 and $84000.
But it's still the case that not much BTC is changing hands at all. Trading volume over the past 24 hours was $25 billion—a far cry from the $42 billion daily volume average it saw last week.
MYRIAD is a decentralized market for prediction launched by Decrypt's parent company DASTAN, are confident that Bitcoin will manage to maintain this price level through the weekend—with over 68% expecting that Bitcoin will still be above $83,000 by the end of the week, up from 52% at the start of the day.
Meanwhile, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index has lost 2 points since yesterday, leaving it stuck in "Fear." It had been coasting along in "Neutral" territory as recently as last month. Since the start of the year, the index—which ranges from 0 for extreme fear to 100 for extreme greed—has reached as high as 84 two days after President Donald Trump's inauguration. But it's experienced a bumpy descent since then as geopolitical tensions and global trade tirades have plagued markets.
The traders are watching to see if Powell offers any hope for a rate reduction later in the year. According to CME FedWatch, 99% of traders expect the Fed to leave rates the same.
But BRN analyst Valentin Fournier thinks they're looking to DC for a different reason—and perhaps, with more optimism.
"The dominant narrative driving this cycle is Bitcoin accumulation at a national level," he wrote in a market note Wednesday. "While immediate actions are awaited, their potential impact is expected to be sudden and significant."
Bo Hines said at the Bitcoin Policy Institute’s closed-door discussion last week that White House intends to buy as much digital currency as it can. Bitcoin As it can.
