The Fed may restart rate hikes, and the crypto market faces a crucial test!
After three years and two months, expectations for the Fed to raise rates are heating up again. The market broadly believes there is a very high chance that the September 16 FOMC meeting will see a restart of rate-hike operations. This macro shift will also flow through directly to the entire crypto market.

At present, the U.S. federal funds rate is maintained in the 3.5–3.75% range. After multiple rounds of cuts previously, the total easing amounted to 175 basis points. If a 25-basis-point hike is carried out this time, the rate range would be lifted to 3.75–4%, marking the first rate increase in more than three years.

The turning point for market expectations comes from the Jackson Hole Global Central Banking Conference. After Fed officials released a relatively hawkish signal, several top Wall Street investment banks quickly revised their views. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Citigroup all updated their outlooks—giving up the expectation that rates would remain unchanged, betting on rate hikes starting in September, and some institutions even forecast another hike later in the year.

For the crypto market, fundamentally, rate hikes mean tighter market liquidity, which directly suppresses the valuation of risk assets. Bitcoin, as a bellwether in the crypto space, is highly sensitive to U.S. dollar liquidity. If the rate hike materializes, risk appetite will decline, and funds are likely to pull away from high-volatility crypto segments, making it easy for the broader market to see choppy pullbacks.

Of course, this can’t be taken as a blanket rule. Much of the rate-hike expectation has already been priced in by the market. If the final outcome matches market expectations, it’s possible to see a “bad news already priced in” scenario. The real risk is when the pace or magnitude of the hike exceeds expectations, or when signals of continued hikes persist—at which point downward pressure on the crypto market would increase significantly.

Many retail investors make an easy mistake: trading purely based on rate-hike headlines. But market movements won’t be driven by a single event. Data such as inflation, employment, and U.S. Treasury yields can change the Fed’s policy direction at any time.

Institutional forecasts can only be used as reference and cannot be taken as direct buy-and-sell instructions. Crypto assets are inherently highly volatile—do not blindly go all-in based on news.

The upcoming FOMC outcome will become an important watershed for the crypto market in the second half of the year, and it’s worth continuing to monitor closely.$NVDAB #AnthropicCEO呼吁放缓AI发展