Bitcoin traded in a tight range today as investors braced for volatility ahead of the FOMC meeting that could provide fresh signals on interest rate policy and economic outlook. The overall cryptocurrency market cap dipped below $3.6 trillion for the third time this month and was down 2.53% in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin dominance continued to rise throughout the day to 58.5% as the subdued performance was seen across the altcoin market with only a few of the top tokens in the green when writing. Aligning with the current market sentiment, the crypto fear and greed index dropped three points from the previous day to 50, which indicates a lack of confidence in the market. Why is Bitcoin going down? Bitcoin traded within a tight range between $100,272 – $103,541, with the $100,000 level currently acting as a crucial psychological support level. The bellwether crypto’s future direction will be greatly influenced by the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later today. Traders are on edge, as any shift in policy could set the tone for Bitcoin’s next move. If the Fed maintains its current stance and keeps rates steady, as widely expected, Bitcoin’s reaction may remain muted in the short term. While a neutral policy signals stability, it also keeps liquidity conditions unchanged, meaning Bitcoin could continue trading in a tight range unless new catalysts emerge. On the other hand, a more hawkish stance—hinting at future rate hikes or keeping rates elevated for longer—could weigh on Bitcoin’s price. A stronger dollar typically means risk asset classes like cryptocurrencies are less attractive to investors. As such, it could trigger some downside pressure as investors rotate funds into safer, yield-bearing assets like U.S. Treasuries and money market funds. Conversely, a dovish tone from the Fed helps bulls push Bitcoin into price discovery mode as it currently trades a little 6% shy of its all-time high when writing. Lower interest rates generally lead to increased risk appetite, encouraging capital to flow into assets like Bitcoin. According to CME’s FedWatch tool, the regulator is expected to keep interest rates unchanged with a 99.5% chance. However, traders must note that Bitcoin fundamentals currently remain strong as institutional interest and developments around BTC as a state-backed reserve asset have solidified its long-term appeal. On top of this, regulatory clarity in key markets like the United States has also bolstered trader confidence. Long-term predictions for 2025 have ranged between $120,000 up to and beyond $200,000. Currently, besides the uncertainty around the Fed’s decision, a lack of retail interest is also preventing Bitcoin from moving higher. Pseudonymous analyst Charlie flagged this in a January 28 X post, stating that it has hit levels last seen during the 2021 bear market bottom. According to some analysts, Bitcoin needs to reclaim the $103,000 support level before it can continue higher. Fellow analyst AlphaBTC visualized a drop below $100k if bulls fail to breach this key support level. On the contrary, reclaiming it would hint its “game on again,” the analyst wrote. Such a scenario could transpire as there’s a concentration of bids between $95,500 and $101,500 according to crypto commentary channel Material Indicators. Some traders may be attempting to suppress the price temporarily to fill orders at lower levels, they explained. If Bitcoin’s price dips into this bid ladder, it could trigger strong buying activity, potentially setting the stage for a rebound. However, as analyst Charlie cautioned, newly formed buy walls can sometimes disappear abruptly, leading to unexpected volatility. For analyst and trader Carl Moon, BTC could be looking at a drop to $97,000. He pointed to a bearish flag formation on the BTC/USDT daily chart which if confirmed could lead to a deeper correction if Bitcoin drops below $100k. At the time of writing, one Bitcoin was selling for $101,892, down 1% over the past 24 hours. Altcoin market tanks The total altcoin market capitalization slipped 8.3% over the past day to $1.53 trillion as most of the top tokens traded in the red throughout the Asian trading hours. However, the altcoin season index saw no change from the previous and was sitting at 42. Single-digit gains were posted by a handful of tokens. The top performers were as follows: dogwifhat As of the last check on Wednesday morning U.S. time, Dogwifhat (WIF) was the top gainer among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies in the market. Source: CoinMarketCap The meme coin rose 8.2% over the past 24 hours, trading at $1.23 as it recovered most of its losses from the past four days. Its market cap stood at $1.2 billion, while its daily trading volume tripled to a massive $1.46 billion. Today’s gains may have been driven by an announcement from Dogwifhat’s official X account. The post stated that the token’s mascot would appear on the Las Vegas Sphere. Although unofficial, this sparked renewed buying activity from whales and increased WIF accumulation on exchange wallets. The most notable was a whale wallet named “Ansem,” which bought 915,828 WIF for 1.2 million USDC—its first purchase in three months. WIF is now its only major meme coin holding as of press time. Uniswap Uniswap (UNI) was up 5% over the past day, exchanging hands at $11.67 at the time of publication. Its market cap was standing at $7 billion with a circulating supply of around 600 million UNI tokens. Source: CoinMarketCap The altcoin’s gains could be driven by investor interest ahead of the Uniswap v4 launch. Scheduled for release this week, the upgrade is expected to enhance Uniswap’s infrastructure with improved liquidity provision and support for hooks and integrations. Analysts have noted that UNI recently broke out of a symmetrical triangle pattern, a bullish signal that could mean the altcoin could likely see more gains. Bittsensor Bittensor (TAO), an AI token that holds the 43rd position among the largest crypto assets in the market held on to 5% gains recorded over the previous day when writing. With an intraday high of $487.17, TAO extended its weekly gains to over 11% while its market cap stood at $3.76 billion. Source: CoinMarketCap Gains for TAO followed after asset management giant Grayscale announced it had opened its Decentralized AI Fund to accredited investors. TAO is one of the AI-focused cryptocurrencies that investors can gain exposure to via this fund. Some of the gains were also fuelled by some dip buying among traders after the TAO price crashed as the DeepSeek fiasco unraveled. The post Bitcoin holds steady around $100K ahead of Fed interest rate decision; WIF, UNI, TAO see gains appeared first on Invezz
