The US Federal Reserve (FED) kept interest rates unchanged last night, as expected. However, in verbal remarks following the FED decision, FED Chairman Jerome Powell signaled that policymakers will remain cautious about interest rate cuts as long as inflationary pressures persist.
Powell, indicating the possibility of a two-pronged approach regarding interest rates, stated that the issue of raising interest rates was also discussed at the last meeting.
Powell’s remarks indicate that the Fed is taking a cautious approach to basing its policy decisions on data, leaving both interest rate cuts and rate increases open as possible options.
The Fed also added that it plans to cut interest rates once in 2026 and once in 2027.
The Federal Reserve’s cautious approach to interest rate policy has caused sharp declines in cryptocurrency markets, as well as in gold and silver.
With over $100 billion wiped from market value in the last 24 hours, losses continue to deepen in Bitcoin ($BTC) and leading altcoins.
While the price of Bitcoin fell below $70,000 during the day, $BTC, which had risen above $76,000 the previous day, quickly reversed its direction downwards.
The Fed also left altcoins in a losing position. Major altcoins like Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and XRP saw losses in the 5-6% range.
According to Coinglass data, the total amount liquidated in the last 24 hours reached $581 million. Of this, $491.2 million was from long positions and $89.7 million was from short positions.
FED Also Lowered Gold and Silver Prices!
The decline triggered by the Fed was not limited to Bitcoin and altcoins. Gold and silver prices also experienced sharp drops.
According to data shared by the cryptocurrency analytics platform Lookonchain, spot gold fell as low as $4,700 per ounce.
Gold fell by around 2% daily, reaching a new low not seen since February 6th.
The decline also affected silver, with spot silver falling below $70. According to data shared by Lookonchain, on March 19th, spot silver dropped below $70, reaching a new low since February 6th, with an intraday decline exceeding 7%.
*This is not investment advice.
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