Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller delivered remarks at the Jackson Hole Global Central Bankers’ Symposium on Friday evening, and his hawkish stance quickly drew market attention. StoneX market analyst Fawad Razaqzada noted that in his speech, Waller not only expressed doubt about earlier forward-looking policy guidance, but also clearly refused to make any pre-commitment regarding the September rate decision. Although he believes core inflation is moving toward the Fed’s target, he still insists that fighting inflation remains the top priority. Overall, his comments were evidently firmer than what the market had expected, directly shattering the market’s one-way bets on the policy path.
The reason this speech caused a stir is that it instantly changed investors’ expectations for the September FOMC meeting. During Waller’s address, the market’s probability forecast for the Fed to raise rates by 25 basis points in September saw a sharp adjustment—from 30% to roughly 50%. Previously, the market generally believed the rate-hiking cycle was near its end, but Waller’s hawkish tone suggests that inside the Fed, concern about a resurgence in inflation remains high. The possibility of further hikes has not been completely ruled out, and everything remains a dynamic game.
From the perspective of macro financial markets, this wavering in rate-hike expectations has brought obvious volatility. Treasury yields and the U.S. Dollar Index moved in response to the hawkish comments, while global risk assets had to reassess the potential pressure from rising discount rates. However, for now, Fed policy is highly dependent on the performance of subsequent macro data. Before the September meeting, the market will receive a major nonfarm payrolls report and a CPI release. Given that the latest employment data came in far below expectations with a wide gap, if the following data continue to show weakness, current rate-hike expectations could be invalidated again at any time and cool off quickly.
As for the crypto market, the repeated shifts in expectations for macro liquidity undoubtedly increase near-term uncertainty. At present, crypto funds are more inclined to stay on the sidelines, and assets such as Bitcoin $BTC show a strong pulse-like “battle of expectations” behavior when faced with disruptions in the macro news backdrop. The key to the outlook still lies in the upcoming employment and CPI results: if the data are strong, the rising tightening expectations could create a temporary squeeze on liquidity in the crypto market; if the data are weak, the narrative around rate cuts and easing may regain momentum. Investors should remain objective and rational and closely track further guidance from the data.👀
Noticed the long-established privacy coin Zcash ($ZEC ) appearing on CoinGecko’s trending list, currently ranked 11th by market capitalization. As a large-cap coin, the intense attention from the community is often accompanied by a battle between long and short positions. As for how the price will move next, we recommend everyone stay rational and observe changes in the market.👀
At the recently concluded Jackson Hole annual meeting, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller delivered a hawkish speech, reaffirming the commitment to bring inflation back to the 2% target. Influenced by his remarks, Deutsche Bank promptly adjusted its outlook, expecting the Fed to raise rates by 25 basis points in both September and December. Data from the CME’s Fed funds rate watch showed that the probability the market was pricing for a total rate hike of 50 basis points or more by December surged sharply from 29% the previous day to 51%, while the probability of keeping rates unchanged fell to just 11%. Meanwhile, on social media, Trump claimed that the U.S. had reached a controlling-partnership agreement regarding Venezuela’s proven oil reserves of over 65 billion barrels—interweaving news from the energy front with monetary-policy developments, drawing broad market attention.
This round of expectation reversal is critical because it quickly broke the market’s earlier premature pricing of a loose-liquidity cycle. Many investors had originally believed the hiking cycle was nearing its end, but the Fed officials’ tone demonstrated a determined stance to suppress inflation, clearly raising the hurdle for a September rate hike. Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz’s chief economic adviser, noted that the U.S. Treasury yield curve has flattened significantly: the spread between the 2-year and 10-year yields narrowed by about 7 basis points, and the spread between the 2-year and 30-year yields narrowed by about 10 basis points. This not only reflects the market’s dramatic repricing of aggressive hawkish hikes in the near term, but also indicates that funds are betting on the Fed’s long-term credibility on inflation.
In traditional financial markets, renewed expectations of hawkish rate hikes directly pushed up the U.S. dollar and short-term risk-free yields, putting broad pressure on non-US currencies and safe-haven assets. Spot gold’s intraday decline reached 3%, with prices falling to around $4,463.24 per ounce. Holdings of the world’s largest gold ETF (SPDR Gold Trust) also decreased by 4.279 tonnes to 1,042.357 tonnes, and profit-taking sentiment among longs was strong. The yen against the U.S. dollar hovered near the 160 level, triggering concerns about intervention. The U.S. Treasury Secretary, Yellen, had also previously mentioned spillover risks that could be caused by Japan selling U.S. Treasuries; overall, the macro liquidity backdrop has shown signs of tightening in the near term.
For the crypto market, $BTC and mainstream tokens often face tests of liquidity tightening during macro repricing like this. As expectations for risk-free rates rise, the pace at which incremental off-exchange funds enter the market may slow, and highly leveraged positions face pressure to deleverage. Objectively, however, if the energy-side agreement proceeds as scheduled and lowers the inflation base within the medium term, the Fed’s tightening pressure could gradually ease as well. At present, the market is in a critical window where bulls and bears are in active contest; investors need to closely watch the actual performance of upcoming jobs and inflation data to verify whether the rate-hike path will truly materialize.
Within $TST 24 hours, it rose 7.13%, and the current price is now 0.01713000 ⚡️. So far, we haven’t seen any specific positive catalysts yet; it’s likely short-term funds are in a tug-of-war. Both long and short sides are fluctuating violently, making it easy to get shaken out in both directions. Everyone, please stay cautious and don’t blindly chase orders!👀 #TST #altcoin
Looked it up on CoinGecko and found that Pons ($PONS) has quietly climbed onto the trending search chart; currently it’s ranked 282nd by market cap. The community search interest has surged pretty quickly, but for a coin of this size, short-term liquidity and trading sentiment tend to fluctuate a lot. Next up: keep pushing for the chart or return to a period of consolidation? Might be worth watching a bit longer.👀
The U.S. Treasury market has recently seen fresh turbulence. In the latest trading session, the yield on the 5-year U.S. Treasury note climbed steadily to 4.48%, directly setting the highest level since February 2025. At a key juncture in the macro policy tug-of-war, this crucial yield indicator has quietly moved higher, suggesting that the bond market’s pricing for capital is undergoing subtle shifts.
Why is this data worth paying close attention to? The 5-year U.S. Treasury yield is often viewed as a barometer of the medium-term economic outlook and the expected path of policy rates. When yields surge to the 4.48% range, it implies that market expectations for a easing cycle are being recalibrated. Traders’ bets on the pace of rate cuts are growing more cautious, and capital is beginning to reprice uncertainty arising from sticky inflation and the economy’s resilience.
Looking across the broader traditional financial markets, a rise in the risk-free rate often triggers a chain reaction. Higher yields typically provide support to the U.S. dollar index, while also lifting cross-market borrowing and liquidity costs. In this environment, the valuations of traditional risk assets such as U.S. equities are likely to be somewhat pressured, and funds in asset allocation may become more meticulous and selective.
For our crypto community, the liquidity outlook for $BTC and the entire digital asset market is also unlikely to be unaffected. On the one hand, higher risk-free returns may keep some incremental over-the-counter liquidity on the sidelines. On the other hand, the crypto market’s own fundamentals and long-term narrative are also forming support. As for what comes next—whether price action will continue to range-bound consolidate or seek a new direction amid macro disruptions—everyone may want to watch more and act less, observing objectively and rationally.
Today, the commodities market has seen a clear adjustment. According to the latest on-screen data, spot gold has plunged more than $100 intraday, breaking below the $4,500 per ounce level directly. The intraday drop is 2.26%, reaching the lowest level since August 20. At the same time, spot silver has also weakened in parallel, falling below the $68 level, down about 2.3% intraday to around $67.67 per ounce.
In addition, Chicago Fed Chair Austan Goolsbee is also set to accept an interview with CNBC, and the market is highly focused on the policy signals that Federal Reserve officials are about to release.
The reason this rapid pullback in precious metals has attracted attention is that gold and silver had been moving strongly beforehand, and many investors viewed them as an important pool for hedging macro uncertainties. This time, gold’s fast one-day retracement of more than $100 reflects, on the one hand, that after accumulating substantial profits at higher levels, some long positions are choosing to lock in gains. On the other hand, it also suggests that ahead of remarks by major officials, there remains some disagreement in the market about the pace of future rate cuts, and sentiment is tilted toward cautious defense.
From the perspective of traditional macro markets, sharp selloffs in precious metals are often closely tied to changes in expectations for liquidity in dollar assets. If Fed officials continue to maintain a relatively neutral or patient tone in the interview, the U.S. dollar index and Treasury yields could receive short-term support, which would in turn exert some pressure on non–interest-bearing assets. At the same time, some analysts also point out that with the broader-cycle easing expectations unchanged, the sharp retreat in the short term is more likely to be a technical shakeout and a rebalancing of positioning.
Returning to our crypto circle, the violent volatility of gold as a traditional safe-haven asset will also indirectly affect the flow of funds across the entire risk-asset market. Some of the profit-taking funds that exit traditional commodity markets may later rotate into the crypto market represented by $BTC to look for opportunities, or they may follow macro sentiment and pull back on risk together. For now, both bulls and bears hold firm views. For ordinary participants, objectively tracking macro signals and capital flows, and viewing market fluctuations rationally—leaving the final direction to the market—is a steadier approach.
The signals from the Jackson Hole meeting were more hawkish than market expectations. The Federal Reserve has made its position clear: current inflation is still above the 2% target, and the downward trend is not yet sufficiently evident. From business investment to consumer spending, overall economic performance remains solid, making it difficult to define the current financial conditions as truly “restrictive.”
The Fed reiterated again that interest rates remain the core policy tool. If price pressures cannot return to the target with a sufficiently clear and rapid pace, there remains a possibility of further tightening in subsequent policy actions. As a result of this speech, short-dated U.S. Treasuries saw selloffs: the yield on the 2-year note rose by 5 basis points to 4.28%, while the 30-year yield edged down by 1 basis point to 5.19%. The market’s probability of a September rate hike began to exceed expectations for holding rates unchanged.
For overall risk assets—including the crypto market—both the delay in rate-cut expectations and the resurfacing of rate-hike risks undoubtedly put short-term liquidity expectations under renewed strain. The macro-level contest is still ongoing, and market participants are closely watching whether upcoming data will prompt any substantive shift in the policy path.👀
The initial jobless claims and October CPI, originally scheduled for release at 8:30 AM Eastern Time, have been delayed due to the government shutdown. #CPIdata