Markets Rally After Powell Hints At Smaller Interest Rate Hikes

Bitcoin and Ether Hit Three-Week Highs

Crypto markets rallied this week after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the next rate hike would be smaller than the mega-hikes of recent months.

“The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting,” Powell said in a speech Wednesday at the Brookings Institution.

The Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates by three-fourths of a percent at four consecutive meetings, the steepest rise in at least 40 years. The hikes, intended to cool the economy and thereby tackle soaring inflation, have pummeled stocks and crypto assets this year.

Federal funds futures now indicate an 80% probability of a half-percent hike at the Fed’s next meeting on Dec. 14, according to CME FedWatch.

Ether and Bitcoin hit three-week highs Wednesday, briefly topping $1,300 and $17,200 respectively.

BTC Price + ETH Price, Source: The Defiant Terminal

Fantom’s FTM and Yuga Labs’ APE were among the week’s top gainers, surging 32% and 22%.

Binance’s BNB token and Ripple’s XRP are the only tokens with a top 10 market capitalization to have lost value over the past week, dropping about 4% each.

XRP Price + BNB Price, Source: The Defiant Terminal

UNI and AAVE Lead DeFi Higher

Looking at DeFi, a pair of blue chip protocols posted sharp gains. Uniswap’s UNI token is up almost 10% in the past 24 hours and 18% over the past week, as its community considers a proposal to test second-order effects from monetizing the protocol. Aave is up almost 12% over the past week.

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Other DeFi tokens to have jumped 20% or more over the preceding week include GMX, JOE, RPL and RBN.