Bitcoin lost its early-week momentum on Tuesday, retreating toward the $90,000 level as traders shifted into wait-and-see mode ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve rate decision.
The market’s brief rebound faded quickly. Bitcoin last traded around $90,150, pulling back from Monday’s high of $92,350. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) dropped 2.1% over the past 24 hours, with every asset in the benchmark sliding into negative territory.
This week’s pattern resembles last week’s swing, when bitcoin jumped from $86,300 to $93,200 between Sunday and Tuesday before drifting lower to $88,000 in the days that followed.
The difference this time is the looming Fed announcement. Traders widely expect a 25-basis-point rate cut — normally a supportive catalyst for crypto because declining rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets. But with expectations entrenched for weeks, the cut may already be priced in. That raises the risk of a sell-the-news reaction if the meeting offers no fresh bullish triggers for the remainder of the year.
Derivatives positioning
Despite the upcoming policy decision, volatility indicators remain calm. Bitcoin’s BVIV and ether’s EVIV 30-day implied volatility indexes remain stable, showing little sign of pre-Fed tension.
On Deribit, traders have been active in June expiries, scooping up deep-out-of-the-money puts at strikes down to $20,000 and calls above $200,000. These positions appear to be volatility plays rather than strong directional bets. Overall, BTC and ETH puts continue to trade at richer premiums than calls, with block activity in bitcoin centered on risk-reversal structures and put-diagonal spreads. Ether saw interest in call spreads and risk reversals.
Futures markets show a steady unwinding of open interest for most major tokens, including BTC and ETH. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) saw OI decline 8%, while Zcash (ZEC) bucked the trend, climbing 16% to 2.30 million ZEC — just below its Dec. 4 all-time high of 2.32 million.
Token talk
Altcoins continue to face the brunt of the market’s risk aversion. HYPE plunged 8.6% over the past 24 hours, while STRK, QNT and KAS shed between 5.7% and 6.3%.
CoinMarketCap’s “altcoin season” gauge sits at 18/100, a dramatic reversal from Sept. 20, when it hit 78/100.
Although bitcoin has declined around 20% in the last 90 days, altcoins have suffered far steeper losses. More than half of the top-100 tokens by market capitalization have fallen over 40% during the same period.
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