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Benzinga
Benzinga
Business
Shivdeep Dhaliwal

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Unfazed By Upcoming Rate Hike: Why This Analyst Is Waiting For A 'Big Short Squeeze'

Major coins, including Bitcoin, traded in the green at press time on Thursday, as the global cryptocurrency market cap rose 2.8% to $925.2 billion.

Price Performance Of Major Coins
Coin 24-hour 7-day Price
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) 1.9% -4.95% $20,569.48
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) 7.2% -3.8% $1,191.81
Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) 0.7% -11.6% $0.06
Top 24-Hour Gainers (Data via CoinMarketCap)
Cryptocurrency 24-Hour % Change (+/-) Price
CEEK VR (CEEK) +16.7% $0.38
Aave (AAVE) +15.1% $91.43
Uniswap (UNI) +14.6% ​​$7

See Also: How To Get Free Crypto

Why It Matters: Risk assets, including cryptocurrencies were buoyant on Thursday evening as expectations for a 100 basis point interest rate hike tapered down.

On Thursday, U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said a 75 basis point hike is almost certain to take place in the next policy meeting of the bank. Waller said the market was getting ahead of itself when projecting a 100 basis point increase in interest rates.

Despite the recent macroeconomic headwinds, Bitcoin has held on to the $20,000 mark, said OANDA senior market analyst Craig Erlam.

“Whether [Bitcoin] can continue to swim against the tide, I'm not so sure. What we're seeing is impressive but I struggle to see the case for bitcoin having bottomed. Time will tell,” said Erlam, in a note seen by Benzinga.

The dollar continues to gain amid anticipated rate hikes. The dollar index, a measure of the U.S. unit’s strength against six other currencies, rose 0.2% to 108.50 on Thursday. It touched a high of 109.29, the highest level since Sep. 2002 intraday, reported Reuters.

Cryptocurrency trader Justin Bennett told his Twitter followers to keep an eye on the dollar index on Friday and said it would need to  “weaken to help fuel a further relief rally for” cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies grow when there is little correlation with equities, said Santiment on Thursday. “After yesterday's [inflation] report, [BTC] & [alt coins] have been recovering while the [SP500 & Gold] drop. If they stay uncorrelated, it's a good sign of a potential breakout,” said the market intelligence platform in a tweet.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures traded 0.2% higher each at press time, while Bitcoin was above the key psychological level of $20,000. 

See Also: Are Bitcoin, Ethereum About To Lead The Stock Market Higher?

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said he’s waiting for a “big short squeeze.” Ki pointed out that in 2020 many people punted on short positions on Bitcoin and got liquidated in the $10,000 - $20,000 range before the “parabolic bull-run started.”

“Back then, 10% of hourly buy market orders were from short liquidations. Now, it's around 1%,” said the CEO of the community-based analytics platform.

Read Next: $3B In Bitcoin Will Be Released Into Market To Make Up For Hack

Photo via Mmaxer on Shutterstock

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