Bitcoin coils near $76.5K as US stocks rebound from Fed rate hike

Bitcoin ($BTC) traded near $76,500 after Thursday’s Wall Street open as investors snapped up US stocks following their recent dip.

Key points:

• Bitcoin consolidated after dropping below $76,000 on the back of a 0.25% interest-rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
• US equities rebounded, with the Nasdaq Composite Index gaining 1.5% as analysis saw upside continuation.
• Bitcoin price analysis retained its bullish slant on market conditions, with CryptoQuant’s Bull Score Index circling 60/100 on Thursday.

Bitcoin halts losses as US stocks turn green

Data from TradingView showed that $BTC price volatility was cooling over the last 24 hours, with only modest moves to take nearby liquidity.

$BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Data from CoinGlass showed both bid and ask liquidity thickening around the current spot price, a typical feature of rangebound trading conditions.

$BTC/USDT liquidation heatmap (Binance). Source: CoinGlass

US equities gained on the day, as investors sought to capitalize on the local downside that followed policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 Index and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.9% and 1.5%, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite Index one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

On Wednesday, the Fed voted to increase benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75-4%. This was its first hike since July 2023, and signaled an end to three years of easing in which the Fed either cut rates or held them in the same range between meetings.

Commenting, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter suggested that assets would continue to perform strongly despite the prospect of lower-liquidity conditions associated with the rate hikes. As Cointelegraph reported, central-bank rates are notching higher globally, as the European Central Bank hiked by 0.25% last week and the Bank of Japan is expected to follow suit on Friday.

“The asset owner economy just keeps getting better,” it wrote in a post on X, referencing the day’s gains in the Nasdaq.

Analysis sees $BTC price trend “cooling, not turning”

Bitcoin also enjoyed relief after falling to new month-to-date lows on Tuesday. At the time of writing, $BTC/USD traded 0.5% higher on the day.

Related: Bitcoin treasuries buy just 5.9K $BTC in three months as paper losses linger

Commenting on the current market landscape, onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant described macro conditions as a hurdle to the continuation of Bitcoin’s previous rebound that totaled 25% in August.

“The trend is still bullish, but momentum and macro are working against it near-term,” head of research Julio Moreno wrote in its latest weekly report sent to Cointelegraph.

Moreno noted that one of CryptoQuant’s proprietary indicators tracking $BTC price cycles, the Bull Score Index, had dropped from 80 to 60 — the cut-off point for what it describes as “bullish conditions.”

“Bitcoin is cooling, not turning. A Bull Score of 60 keeps the trend bullish, but fading US demand, rising altcoin inflows, and a week of macro risk — the delay of the CLARITY Act and a likely Fed hike — argue for consolidation. Watch $70K and $62K–$65K as support,” the report summarized.

Bitcoin Bull Score Index. Source: CryptoQuant