Bitcoin (BTC) passed $29,500 on Oct. 20 after an eventful 24 hours boosted BTC price trajectory, while XRP’s (XRP) price jumped above $0.50 in response to Ripple’s big legal win.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it edged closer to two-month highs from the start of the week.
The largest cryptocurrency appeared to feed off events surrounding a speech from Jerome Powell, chair of the United States Federal Reserve, the day prior.
Amid a U.S. bond rout, Powell was under pressure to deliver appropriate wording, and analysis even predicted a “very dovish” tone would dominate. In the event, the speech, which was briefly interrupted by protesters, saw Powell as highly conservative on the outlook.
“The stance of policy is restrictive, meaning that tight policy is putting downward pressure on economic activity and inflation,” he said about interest rate hikes.
Powell said that the Fed acknowledged the potential problems of hiking rates too far.
“Doing too little could allow above-target inflation to become entrenched and ultimately require monetary policy to wring more persistent inflation from the economy at a high cost to employment. Doing too much could also do unnecessary harm to the economy,” he continued.
Data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed changing tides among market expectations when it comes to future rate decisions.
At its next meeting on Nov. 1, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is now unanimously thought to hold rates at their current levels, per data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. Before Powell, the odds stood at 88%.
Following the speech, news broke that U.S. regulators had dropped criminal charges against executives of blockchain firm Ripple.
XRP’s price responded
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