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Bitcoin Pulls Back With Markets Nervous Ahead of Fed Meeting Results
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were both lower by more than 1% about an hour before the close.
Updated Mar 18, 2025, 6:58 p.m. Published Mar 18, 2025, 6:57 p.m.
What to know:
- Crypto traded lower alongside U.S. stocks on Tuesday.
- The Fed began its policy meeting today, with results due tomorrow afternoon U.S. hours.
- No one is expecting the Fed to cut rates tomorrow, but investors will be on the lookout the central bank is turning a bit more dovish given the recent economic and market uncertainties.
After a couple of sessions of good vibes, risk markets headed back into retreat on Tuesday, one day ahead of the results of this week's U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting.
Bitcoin was trading at $81,300 at press time, lower by 3.5% over the past 24 hours. Solana , ether and XRP were posting modestly higher losses.
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A bit more than an hour before the close of trade, the Nasdaq was down 1.7% and S&P 500 1.1%.
The Federal Open Market Committee began its two-day policy meeting today, with results and Chairman Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference set for Wednesday afternoon U.S. hours.
While no one is expecting a change in interest rates, traders will be looking for signs that the Fed is perhaps turning a hair more dovish given recent market turbulence and a slowdown in inflation.
The market action on Tuesday, however, suggests nervousness the Fed may not yet be ready to ease policy further. After all, the downturn in inflation seen in February wasn't that large and it was just one report. And the dip in markets — though painful for many — has also been pretty modest given the impressive run higher in recent years.
According to CME FedWatch, rate traders today see no chance the Fed cuts rates tomorrow and only a 20% chance the central bank eases at its next meeting in May. For June, though, there's a 66% chance that the Fed will cut rates.
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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Japan’s Higher Rates Puts Bitcoin in the Crosshairs of a Yen Carry Unwind
A stronger yen typically coincides with de-risking across macro portfolios, and that dynamic could tighten liquidity conditions that recently helped bitcoin rebound from November’s lows.
What to know:
- The Bank of Japan is expected to raise interest rates to 0.75% at its December meeting, the highest since 1995, affecting global markets including cryptocurrencies.
- A stronger yen could lead to de-risking in macro portfolios, impacting liquidity conditions that have supported bitcoin's recent recovery.
- Governor Kazuo Ueda indicated a high probability of a rate hike, with officials prepared for further tightening if their economic outlook supports it.
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