Powell’s Data Dance: Crypto Markets Amuse Themselves

by

In the smoky corridors where finance hisses like a kettle left to boil too long, the total cryptocurrency market greeted the solemn words of Jerome Powell with the mild, ironical shrug of a clerk who has read the tax code one too many times. Investors, those prudent jesters, absorbed the hints that U.S. policy would remain tethered to the data, as if the policy were a stubborn mule refusing to dance unless the data whistle blew at just the right tempo.

After the Federal Open Market Committee decided to hold rates at 3.50%-3.75%, the chairman proclaimed the current stance “appropriate,” as if a tailor had declared a suit properly fitted after trimming away 75 basis points during the last three gatherings. A ceremony with bells and ledgers, and yet somehow no fireworks for the crypto crowd.

Powell’s Neutral Stance: No Prewritten Route

Powell declared that the United States economy trudges into 2026 upon solid ground, with consumer spending and business investment stubbornly marching forward, two pensioners arm in arm through a bustling market, neither in a hurry nor entirely sure why the world spins so hurriedly around them.

While job growth has slowed to a wheeze, unemployment has found a quiet chair, and inflation-though having ceased its boisterous roar from 2022-still lingers above the Fed’s 2% target, like a distant cousin who never quite leaves the room after a visit.

He insisted that future policy decisions would depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks, and that monetary policy is “not on a preset course,” as if any course could be stitched to a map drawn by a tipsy cartographer who cannot decide if north is up or down.

The Fed offered no guidance on the timing of additional rate cuts, which is to say: the calendar remains a polite stranger at the door, waiting to be admitted only when the numbers permit such a modest party.

Total crypto market cap shows muted response

The broader crypto market data suggests investors watched the press conference with the caution of a clerk counting coins in a dim shop. The total crypto market capitalization excluding stablecoins hovered near $2.7 trillion, showing little change in the hours following Powell’s remarks, as if the market were sipping tea and delaying any dramatic gestures until after a more decisive gust from the flagpoles outside.

The aggregate market remains below its 20-day and 50-day moving averages, a polite way of saying the market is in a long, uneventful nap that has stretched since late November.

Despite intermittent rebounds, total market capitalization has struggled to regain levels above $2.9 trillion. This tells us, in case the sentiment is too shy to admit it aloud, that risk appetite remains as restrained as a librarian during a fire drill under current macro conditions.

Trading volume across the market also remained subdued, reinforcing the notion that Powell’s remarks did not dramatically rearrange the near-term liquidity furniture.

Macro uncertainty continues to cap risk appetite

Powell acknowledged that inflation pressures in the goods sector, partly driven by tariffs, continue to weigh on the outlook, even as disinflation in services proceeds like a stubborn lamp slowly brightening on a winter morning.

He noted that the recent federal government shutdown likely weighed on growth last quarter, though those effects are expected to reverse, like a bad mood that decides to quit the stage for a more favorable audience.

For crypto markets, the absence of a dovish surprise kept conditions largely unchanged, as if the vento of change merely rustled the curtains and then retired to compose another sonnet.

With policy now closer to neutral but no clear signal on further easing, investors appear to be waiting for stronger confirmation that inflation is on a sustained path toward target before increasing their appetite for risk, or at least until someone offers them a comfortable chair at the banquet of certainty.

Final Thoughts

  • Powell reiterated that the Fed will remain data-dependent after holding rates at 3.50%-3.75%, offering no guidance on the timing of further cuts, as if the script were written in invisible ink and only data can reveal the plot twists.
  • The total crypto market capitalisation, excluding stablecoins, remained near $2.7 trillion, suggesting consolidation rather than a dramatic directional overture.

Read More

2026-01-29 00:49