Bitcoin retraces nearly half its losses from October crash amid Fed rate-cut expectations

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded past the $112,000 resistance level over the weekend, trading at $113,724 at the time of writing, according to CryptoSlate data. Bitcoin’s price breached the $113,000 mark for the second time this week—on Oct. 21, BTC was trading at $113,678.

The latest price movement has helped Bitcoin’s value recover nearly half of the losses from the price crash earlier this month. On Oct. 10, the major crash that wiped out billions from the crypto market, leading the price of Bitcoin to tank to $103,000 by Oct. 17.

Fed rate cut on the cards

Bitcoin’s strong weekly closure comes as the market expects the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates by 0.25% at the upcoming meeting on Oct. 29.

On Saturday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published the inflation data for September, which was weaker than expected. According to the report, both the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Core CPI stood at 3% falling below the expected 3.1%.

As financial newsletter, The Kobeissi Letter, reported, the CPI data signals a Fed rate cut next week. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool has also put the odds of the Federal Reserve cutting down interest rates at 98.3%.

A rate cut usually leads to a bump in cryptocurrency prices as borrowing becomes cheaper and high-risk assets become attractive.

Ethereum’s gains surpass Bitcoin

Over the past 24 hours, Ethereum (ETH) price has increased by 3.58%, nearly double of Bitcoin’s 1.94% gains, CryptoSlate data indicates.

Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) both came close to Ethereum’s growth over the past day, bagging 3.46% and 3.45%, respectively.

When it comes to weekly gains, however, Bitcoin snagged the trophy with 4.97% growth over the past 7 days—over double that of Ethereum’s 2.37% gains.

Among the top 10 tokens, XRP price rose the highest over the past week—going up by 9.27%, data shows.

Market is optimistic

The crypto market is optimistic about the prospect of Bitcoin’s price growth, with this weekend’s gains solidifying the path for new all-time highs. A high-risk, speculative Web3 investor, who goes by Borovik on X, noted that Bitcoin’s rally past the $113,000 level signals that “new all-time highs are coming.” Another user, Marzell, wrote:

“As long as price holds above this area, short-term bullish structure remains intact.”

Marzell added that if Bitcoin’s price momentum remains unchanged, the next key target would be above $117,000.

Another Bitcoin trader, who goes by Merlijn The Trader on X, noted that Bitcoin reserves on exchanges have gone down to 2.4 million. “When supply dries up, price doesn’t stay low for long,” he wrote.

It is worth noting that the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index has also risen sharply from fear towards neutral territory, indicating a shift in market sentiment. At the time of writing, it stood at 40 from 29 in the past week and 37 on Saturday.