Cryptocurrency market shows cautious rebound amid rate-cut speculation

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The cryptocurrency market showed early signs of stabilisation after last week’s sharp sell-off, with Bitcoin trading in a narrow band of $85,000–$89,000 throughout the week. Large-cap tokens have led the modest recovery, even as mid-cap and smaller altcoins continue to lag following a phase of heavy deleveraging. The total market capitalisation has recovered to around $3.07 trillion, underscoring a cautious improvement in risk sentiment. 

 

The broader environment, Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex, said, remains heavily influenced by macroeconomic cues. “While declining consumer confidence in the US and weakness in the private-sector labour market have created a risk-off sentiment, they also raise the likelihood of the Fed adopting a less restrictive monetary stance. For now, the focus remains on indicators such as US jobless claims, PCE, and GDP figures,” he noted. 

 

Amid this, the flagship token continues to trade more than 30 per cent below its all-time high of $126,198, reached on October 7 this year. At last check, Bitcoin was quoted at $87,549.95, down 0.58 per cent over the past 24 hours, with a trading volume of $70.7 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The cryptocurrency fluctuated between $86,131 and $88,162 during the session. Amid the recent sell-off, Bitcoin’s market capitalisation slipped below the $2 trillion mark to $1.74 trillion, although it remains the largest digital asset.

 

Expectations of an imminent rate cut have supported Bitcoin’s rebound from $81,000 to $88,000. “Markets are now pricing in an 82 per cent probability of a 25-basis-point cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool,” said Piyush Walke, Derivatives Research Analyst at Delta Exchange.

 

From a technical standpoint, Walke said, “Bitcoin remains below key moving averages—the 50-day and 200-day SMAs—and resistance at $93,000 is still firmly in place.” Patel added that any positive macroeconomic surprise could allow Bitcoin to push past resistance at $91,400, while $85,800 remains immediate support.  ALSO READ | Buffett would own all Bitcoin in zero-volatility world, says Michael Saylor

Ethereum attempts to stabilise

Ethereum was last trading at $2,948.72, up 0.87 per cent over the past 24 hours, supported by a trading volume of $23.16 billion and a market capitalisation of $355.82 billion. The token remains more than 40 per cent below its all-time high of $4,953, reached on August 25 this year.

 

“ETH is trading near a critical long-term support but remains firmly within a multi-month descending structure. Bulls need to reclaim $3,150 to shift momentum; otherwise, the current bounce risks fading. Losing $2,600 could extend the downtrend toward the $2,300 region,” said Harish Vatnani, Head of Trade at ZebPay.

 

Walke added that Ethereum recently bounced off a long-term ascending trendline that has acted as major support for several months. “A convincing daily close above $3,000–$3,050 could open a path toward $3,200–$3,300,” he said.

Altcoins see divergent moves

Several altcoins posted strong intraday gains, with Monad (MON), Story (IP), DoubleZero (2Z), SPX6900 (SPX), Ethena (ENA), Quant (QNT), Hyperliquid (HYPE), Dash (DASH), Bittensor (TAO), World Liberty Financial (WLFI), Pi (PI), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Internet Computer (ICP), Toncoin (TON), Injective (INJ), Starknet (STRK), Pump.fun (PUMP), and PancakeSwap (CAKE) rising as much as 29 per cent, according to CoinMarketCap.

 

Conversely, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), Zcash (ZEC), XRP, Cosmos (ATOM), Celestia (TIA), Bonk (BONK), Hedera (HBAR), Sui (SUI), Canton (CC), XDC Network (XDC), Morpho (MORPHO), Uniswap (UNI), Arbitrum (ARB), Aave (AAVE), Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET), Cronos (CRO), Polygon (POL), Pudgy Penguins (PENGU), Stellar (XLM), Stacks (STX), OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP), Aster (ASTER), MYX Finance (MYX), Flare (FLR), Sky (SKY), Polkadot (DOT), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin (BTC), IOTA (IOTA), and Aerodrome Finance (AERO) declined by up to 4 per cent.