Bitcoin Price Wobbles Ahead Of Fed Meeting As Trump’s Tariff Clock Ticks Down

Bitcoin (BTC) continued to dip in pre-market hours on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve decision on interest rates and President Donald Trump’s August 1 deadline for trade deals fast approaching. 

Bitcoin’s current price was around $118,200 at the time of writing, edging 0.1% lower in the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency remained in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day. 

Bitcoin’s price is now 3.7% below its all-time high of over $122,800, reached earlier this month. It took little support from its largest corporate holder, Strategy (MSTR), raising $2.5 billion in capital to purchase 21,021 BTC after the bell on Wednesday. MSTR’s stock edged 0.64% higher in pre-market trade.

Bitcoin miner Marathon Holdings (MARA), on the other hand, was up 3.6% in pre-market trade after reporting its second-quarter (Q2) earnings on Wednesday after market close. Its revenue increased 64% year-on-year, and net income jumped 505%. 

The company said the income gain was largely driven by a $1.2 billion unrealized gain from Bitcoin appreciation during the period.

The overall cryptocurrency market shed $216 billion over the past day, falling more than 5% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dropped 1.3% over the past day. Ethereum’s price fell to around $3,770 as retail sentiment on Stocktwits slipped lower within ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

BNB (BNB) faced the largest fall among major altcoins, down as much as 3.5% in the last 24 hours, followed by Cardano (ADA) and Tron (TRX), which fell as much as  2.5%. Meme token Dogecoin’s (DOGE) price was down 2.2%. 

The Federal Reserve is largely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, despite growing demand from President Trump and his allies for lower rates. Data from the CME FedWatch tool indicates a 96.9% probability that the central bank will maintain interest rates at the current 4.25% to 4.5% range in July.

Investors are also keeping an eye on how Trump’s trade deals are progressing. Despite progress with China and the EU, key trading partners are still set to face tariffs between 15% and 50% once August 1 deadline hits on Friday. So far, the President has signaled little intent to extend this deadline.

The dip in the crypto market led to $469.81 million in liquidations over the past day, according to Coinglass data. Most of the liquidations originated from long bets – traders who bet the price would rise, totaling around $213 million. Short liquidations were around $57 million. Ethereum experienced the largest liquidations of $67 million, followed by Bitcoin at $29 million.

Read also: Dow Futures Edge Up Ahead Of Fed Meeting, Big Tech Earnings: MSFT, META, F, HOOD, SRPT, SOFI Among Stocks To Watch

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