Bitcoin briefly dips below $43K as Fed says rate hike soon appropriate
The odds are on for a March rate increase after Wednesday's FOMC minutes, but stocks also fear geopolitical instability this week. Bitcoin (BTC) dipped below $43,000 on Feb. 17 as another day on ranging compounded hopes for an incoming breakout. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD acting in a slightly widened zone with $44,500 as a ceiling over the past 24 hours.
The pair had returned to the top of its intraday range overnight on the back of Federal Reserve comments. Expected to provide cues about potential interest rate hikes, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes from a meeting in late January ultimately provided few surprises. A hike could come in March, but no firm commitment was voiced over the process.
"The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run," an accompanying statement read. "In support of these goals, the Committee decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent. With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate."
The FOMC added that it was aiming to halt asset purchases altogether in March, in line with previous plans, with February's purchases due to amount to at least $30 billion. With little in the way of fresh news, crypto markets were thus uninspiring going into Thursday. Zooming out, however, optimism was still firmly present on the strength of the past two weeks' BTC price action.
"My bias has changed a bit and now favor a squeeze towards 53k before mid March," popular trader and analyst Pentoshi said as part of his latest Twitter update.
Others likewise noted the comparatively robust price performance this month compared to previous episodes in Bitcoin's comedown from all-time highs last November. By bouncing at near $33,000 in January, for example, a miner capitulation event — where miners are forced to sell or stop mining altogether due to the Bitcoin spot price being less than their cost of production — was successfully avoided. As Cointelegraph reported, support levels were creeping up throughout recent days as buyers bet on a potential dip being less shallow than previously expected.
Top Cryptocurrencies with Price Predictions
| # | Crypto | Prediction | Accuracy | CVIX | Price | 24h | 7d | Market Cap | 7d price change | |
| 1 |  BTC |
Bitcoin predictions | 88% | 10 | $26 897.71 | -0.57% | 2.07% | $521 544 143 377 |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 94.4% | 5 | $1 860.48 | -0.05% | 3.44% | $223 714 819 656 |  |
|
| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 92% | 1 | $1.000026 | -0.01% | 0.03% | $83 224 498 225 |  |
|
| 4 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 94.8% | 1 | $304.67 | -0.61% | -0.08% | $47 485 262 045 |  |
|
| 5 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 92% | 1 | $0.999756 | -0.01% | -0.01% | $28 847 127 885 |  |
|
| 6 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 77.2% | 37 | $0.504250 | -1.53% | 11.90% | $26 212 632 900 |  |
|
| 7 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 92% | 10 | $0.364572 | -2.55% | 1.76% | $12 717 605 112 |  |
|
| 8 |  STETH |
Lido stETH predictions | 94% | 1 | $2 941.39 | -0.40% | -3.32% | $10 258 752 564 |  |
|
| 9 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 89.2% | 17 | $0.071692 | 0.74% | 1.81% | $10 007 347 652 |  |
|
| 10 |  MATIC |
Polygon predictions | 80% | 35 | $0.893847 | 0.39% | 0.86% | $8 294 424 384 |  |
|
| 11 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 80% | 29 | $20.71 | 0.55% | 7.01% | $8 214 229 812 |  |
|
| 12 |  WTRX |
Wrapped TRON predictions | 80.8% | 37 | $0.074826 | -0.77% | -3.49% | $7 608 018 393 |  |
|
| 13 |  LTC |
Litecoin predictions | 77.6% | 37 | $94.21 | 5.89% | 10.62% | $6 881 721 612 |  |
|
| 14 |  TRX |
TRON predictions | 78.4% | 33 | $0.074853 | -0.76% | -3.71% | $6 753 192 726 |  |
|
| 15 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 87.2% | 11 | $5.23 | -1.35% | -0.75% | $6 224 984 176 |  |
