Leading cryptocurrencies dipped on Sunday as investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.

What Happened: Bitcoin witnessed a choppy trading day, oscillating between $85,000 and $82,000. The apex cryptocurrency recovered some losses last week, rising 2.21%.

The asset shed over 11% of its value in the first quarter, a stark contrast to the 51% returns it has provided on average.

Ethereum wiggled in the $1,860-$1,930 range throughout the day and was down over 7% in the last week. Its quarterly losses have widened to 42%.

Over $256 million was liquidated from the market in the last 24 hours, with long liquidations accounting for $177 million. 

Bitcoin’s Open Interest fell 2.76% over the last 24 hours due to long liquidations. That said, the percentage of traders positioned long on the apex digital asset surged to 52%, according to the Long/Short Ratio, suggesting that traders bought the dip.

The market remained in the “Fear” zone, according to the Crypto Fear and Greed Index.

Top Gainers (24-Hours)

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.71 trillion, marking a  2% decrease over the previous day.

Stock futures edged lower Sunday evening. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures fell 156 points, or 0.37%, as of 8:45 p.m. EDT.  Futures tied to the S&P 500 slid 0.45%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 0.51%

The market was coming off a losing week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 falling 2.38% and 0.75%, respectively.

The Fed’s policy meeting will be the focus of this week. According to the CME FedWatch tool, the central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

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Analyst Notes: Widely followed cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez described $81,400 as a “big” test for Bitcoin, and if it remains above that level, the apex cryptocurrency’s upward trend will continue.

Martinez also noted an ascending triangle pattern for Bitcoin, predicting that a “sustained close” outside the triangle [∼ 84,500] could trigger an 8% upside.

Another popular cryptocurrency market commentator, Michaël van de Poppe, predicted a “strong and green” week if there’s no altcoin dump on Monday.

Image via Shutterstock

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