Bitcoin traded near $80,100 on Thursday, down about 1.4%, after the Federal Reserve held rates and two officials voted for a further hike. CoinDesk put the morning print around $80,100 after a dip to about $79,600, with ether near $2,321, down 1.7%. Investing.com had bitcoin at $80,230.1 by 07:55 ET. A CoinAligator composite at 08:00 UTC was nearer $79,761, with ether at $2,307. The session ran from about $79,600 to the low $81,000s. That gives back the small bounce that followed Wednesday's statement, after the coin sat near $79,800 in Tuesday's note.
A hold was priced. The two dissents were the new information.
The Federal Open Market Committee left the funds rate at 3.75% to 4% on Wednesday in a 10-2 vote. Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack wanted a quarter-point increase. Chair Kevin Warsh declined to signal December. Unchained said Deribit's 30-day bitcoin volatility index, DVOL, was 37.59 when the statement landed and 37.58 at 4:45 p.m. ET, almost unchanged. Spot on Coinbase rose from $80,763 to $81,027 in that window, a gain of 0.33% that did not survive the Asia session. CME FedWatch, as cited by Investing.com, priced a December hike near 79.8%, up from 73.4% a week earlier. A Fox Business reading cited by Unchained put the same odds at 82.6%. The full vote is in today's economy story.
Tech earnings hit altcoins harder than bitcoin
Samsung Electronics fell about 4% in Seoul, and as much as 6.6% at the low, after a record profit came without a fresh shareholder-return plan. The Kospi dropped about 1.2% to 2.1%. Alphabet sales missed expectations and the shares fell about 10% in extended US trade, pulling Nasdaq-100 futures down roughly 1.1% to 1.4%. Microsoft rose 2.9% after hours on cloud sales. AI-linked tokens took the sharper crypto hit: NEAR slid 7.8% and Bittensor fell 3.1%, CoinDesk said. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index lost 3.4%. CoinMarketCap's altcoin-season gauge fell to 54 from 60. Raydium dropped 8.9%, Jito 6.8% and Ethena 6%. Tron was one of the few gainers, up 0.5%. Spot bitcoin ETFs still took in $137.3 million on Wednesday, set out in the flow note, while ether funds lost $21.4 million. September PCE, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, is due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Oil's slip on Iran talks, in our commodities update, is the other macro print desks are watching. Follow the tape on the markets desk.