25 August 2024
The Bitcoin price rally triggered by Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s latest speech has been the major talking point in the crypto community this weekend. Analysts at trading firm QCP Capital are amongst the latest entities to weigh in on BTC’s return to within the $61,000 and $70,000 consolidation range.
How Interest Rate Cuts Could Affect The Bitcoin Market
In its latest report, QCP Capital reacted to the Bitcoin price rallying on the back of the Fed’s announcement of a potential cycle of lower interest rates. Based on on-chain data, this price surge was primarily triggered by spot Bitcoin demand rather than through futures or other derivatives.
According to QCP, the funding rates, which indicate the cost of holding long positions in the futures market, remained flat during the rally. The trading firm mentioned, however, that if the Bitcoin price maintains support at $62,000, a rise in leveraged long positions is expected, especially as the end of the summer holidays approaches.
Furthermore, the QCP report shows a significant increase in bullish calls in the options market, particularly around the $62,500 – $63,000 strike prices, just before Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole. The trading firm added:
Even on the backend, bulls continue to pile on to their long bets in Dec and Mar (80k to 85k strikes).
Powell confirmed that the Fed will slash interest rates in the next month. QCP analysts revealed that a 25 basis point (bp) cut could be potentially bullish for the Bitcoin price, suggesting that the Federal Reserve is taking a cautious approach towards the economy. Meanwhile, a 50bp cut could indicate the Fed “taking acute action to prevent the economy from falling flat.”
While selling pressure has waned and steady capital has flowed into the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over the past two weeks, QCP analysts still believe that the Bitcoin price will continue to consolidate within the $61,000 and $70,000 until 2024 fourth quarter. “We maintain the view that the US elections accompanied with bullish seasonality could be the catalyst for all-time-highs,” the analysts said.
Bitcoin Price At A Glance
As of this writing, the price of BTC stands at around $64,250, reflecting a bare 0.5% increase in the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, the premier cryptocurrency has increased in value by more than 8% in the past week.