Ethereum price has plunged more than 5% over the last day as investors shift their focus to the Fed’s two-day monetary policy meeting. Ethereum, the largest altcoin by market cap, hit an intraday low of $1,821 on Monday, building on its losses over the weekend. ETH’s total market cap has crashed by more than 5% over the past 24 hours, while the total volume of the asset traded jumped 54%.
Fundamentals
Ethereum price has been in the red for two consecutive days after experiencing a phase of consolidation and correction. The altcoin ended the previous week slightly higher on the back of banking fears and recession jitters.
Data by Coinmarketcap show that the global crypto market cap has decreased by 4.30% in the past 24 hours to $1.17 trillion, while the total crypto market volume increased by more than 45%. Bitcoin’s dominance has also slipped over the last day, with the digital asset plummeting by more than 5% to $28,260. Altcoins such as Cardano, XRP, Dogecoin, Polygon, and Polkadot have also recorded significant losses in the past day.
The recent bearish sentiment in the crypto market has been largely contributed by the Fed’s looming monetary policy meeting. The US Federal Reserve is slated to hold its monetary policy meeting from the 2nd to the 3rd of May. Markets are pricing in a 25-basis point interest rate hike after the meeting. Even so, investors seem to be particularly invested in any guidance on how the duration of rate hikes. Higher interest rates tend to affect risk assets such as cryptocurrencies and stocks.
The US Treasury yields ticked higher on Monday in the wake of the highly anticipated meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The yield on the 2-year Treasury yield edged higher to 4.122%, while the 10-year Treasury yield increased to 3.557%. Additionally, the yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury yield rose to 3.801%.
Ethereum Price Outlook
Ethereum price was hovering below the crucial level of $1.9K on Monday as markets price in a hawkish Fed. On the daily chart, the ETH price has moved below the 50-day moving average which has been acting as a support level at $1.8K. Ethereum has also slipped below the 50-day exponential moving average and the 50-day simple moving average.
Its Relative Strength Index (RSI) has inched lower below the neutral zone, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator moves to the bearish zone. The digital asset has been trading between the tight range of $2K and $1.8K for the past few days. At press time, Ethereum was down by 1.66% at $1,838.90.
Therefore, a hawkish Fed will see the Ethereum price fall further in the short term before an upside correction. A move below the crucial support level at $1,800 will have bears eyeing the next logical support level along the 100-day MA at $1.726. Conversely, a flip of the $2K resistance level and its 10-month high at $2,150 will invalidate the bearish thesis.
