The Federal Reserve delivered its first interest rate hike in over three years on September 16, a move typically bearish for Bitcoin. BTC dipped briefly, then recovered and moved into the green, with analysts pointing instead to a failed Senate vote on the CLARITY Act as the bigger driver of recent volatility.
Bitcoin brushed off a Fed rate hike last week and climbed back into the green within the same session. The bigger jolt to the market, analysts say, came a day earlier from Washington, not the Fed.
A Rate Hike That Barely Moved the Needle
The Fed raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points on September 16, the first hike in over three years, with policymakers voting 12-0 in favor. Bitcoin's price dipped once the hike became official, but it shrugged off the drop and recovered the losses as the week progressed.
According to Nexo Dispatch analyst Iliya Kalchev: "Bitcoin rose on the day the Federal Reserve delivered its first interest rate hike", even though the move would ordinarily be expected to hurt a non-yielding asset. However, markets had already priced in roughly a 90%+ probability of the 25-basis-point hike ahead of the meeting, leaving little room for a surprise once the Fed made it official.
The CLARITY Act Setback Hit Harder
The bigger blow came a day earlier, when the US Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act on September 15. That setback pushed Bitcoin to a multi-week low of $75,000. Nansen Senior Research Analyst Nicolai Sondergaard said the rate hike produced less volatility for Bitcoin than the regulatory setback did, and that Bitcoin held up better than higher-beta assets like Ethereum and Solana.
ETF Outflows Confirm the Gap
Kalchev, citing data from SoSoValue, said spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded approximately $450 million in net outflows on September 15. Outflows totaled $296 million the following day. Those figures back the view that the CLARITY Act setback hit the market harder than the Fed's rate decision.
Source: CryptoPotato
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