Bitcoin Slips Below Key Support as Dollar Strengthens Ahead of Powell Speech

Bitcoin (BTC) dipped below a key support level Thursday, pulling the broader crypto market down as the US dollar gained strength ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech.

The leading cryptocurrency fell over 1% $121,500, reversing Wednesday’s spike and penetrating the 200-hour simple moving average, CoinDesk data show. Other major tokens such as BNB and ETH dropped over 3%. The CoinDesk 20 Index fell 1% to 4,155 points.

The decline followed another strong day of inflows into the U.S.-listed spot ETFs, which collectively pulled in $426 million on Wednesday, according to data source SoSoValue. This extends the streaks of robust daily inflows seen over the past week.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback’s value against major fiat currencies, rose to 99.10, the highest since Aug. 1, denting the appeal of dollar-denominated assets like bitcoin and gold. The yellow metal saw a brief drop to $4,000 per ounce. before bouncing back above $4,030 per ounce.

Fed’s Powell is scheduled to speak at the Community Bank Conference in Washington at 12:30 GMT. Traders will look for cues on the monetary policy outlook against the backdrop of the U.S. government shutdown that has paused fresh economic data releases such as inflation and jobs, which the central bank takes into account while setting interest rates.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve September meeting released Wednesday also expressed concerns over the shutdown. “Should the shutdown not end by the FOMC’s Oct. 28-29 meeting, policymakers essentially will be flying blind on key economic metrics,””the committee members noted,

Minutes showed caution over inflation

Minutes revealed that while policymakers were united in their view that rates should be cut, they disagreed on how aggressively rate cuts should proceed and were worried about sticky inflation.

“Most judged that it likely would be appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of this year,” according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s Sept. 16-17 meeting. “A majority of participants emphasized upside risks to their outlooks for inflation.”

Participants voted 11-1 to lower the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, bringing the target range down to around 4%. At the same, a majority of 19 officials anticipated at least two more rate cuts this year, while seven foresaw no further reductions. The dot plot published last month showed a slight majority favoring two more rate reductions this year which would take the benchmark rate to 3.50-3.75%.

Discussions focused heavily on a weakening labor market and early signs that inflation could reaccelerate. Still, the committee was generally aligned in its view that President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs would not be a lasting source of inflation.