 Altcoins ‘hardly sold off’ as Fed casts doubt over future rate cuts 
2025-02-12
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The altcoin market barely reacted after US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell cast doubt on the possibility of further interest rate cuts this year, with one analyst saying that the bottom may be in for the crypto market.
“Crypto received the worst possible news of 2025 today, yet Alts hardly sold off, and some are in the green,” crypto analyst Matthew Hyland said in a Feb. 11 X post. 
Over the past 24 hours, Ether ETHUSD is down 3.78%, while XRP XRPUSD is down 1.24%, and Solana SOLUSD is down 2.20%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Market may have already “sniffed this news”
Hyland said there is a possibility that the market may have already priced in that the Fed would hold rates over 2025. 
“Markets are forward-looking; possible the market already sniffed this news out prior, hence the capitulation a week ago,” he said.
However, he said that since a “massive sell-off” didn’t occur, there’s a strong chance “the bottom is in.”
Powell told the Senate Banking Committee on Feb. 11 that the US economy is “remaining strong” and the US does not “need to be in a hurry to adjust” interest rates.
Fed rate cuts aim to increase liquidity, making riskier assets like crypto more attractive to investors. Conversely, when interest rates rise, safer assets like bonds and term deposits become more attractive.
Crypto commentators divided 
Crypto commentators are split on whether the Fed holding off on quantitative easing (QE) will hurt the chances of an “altcoin season” in the near term.
“You don’t want zero rates and QE,” crypto trader Fejau said in a Feb. 11 X post.
“That means a LOT of pain has to happen in the interim. QE isn’t coming to save your overlevered alt bags anytime soon,” they added.
Messari co-founder Dan McArdle said that “a decent economy and some credit expansion is perfectly sufficient for a moderately risk-on” environment.
It came just days after Hartmann Capital founder Felix Hartmann said the market was near a bottom.
Hartmann pointed to crypto funding rates, which have been “negative for a while,” and noted that quality altcoins have retraced to long-term trendlines, wiping out most of their Q4 2024 gains.
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