FOMC and MicroStrategy push Bitcoin above $35,000, but altcoins could benefit the most

Bitcoin price is seemingly having a field day today as the cryptocurrency crossed a crucial threshold today with the help of positive announcements from Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy and FOMC. However, apart from BTC breaching a barrier, it is the altcoins’ rise that is more significant at the moment.

Read more - Federal Reserve pauses interest rate hikes for second time in a row, Bitcoin price still tethered to $34,600

Bitcoin price hits new highs

Bitcoin price noted a solid rise over the past day on the back of two crucial factors, which pushed the cryptocurrency to trade beyond $35,000. The last time BTC was at this price was back in May 2022, which makes this not only the highest price in 2023 but also in the last 18 months.

One of the biggest driving factors was the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. In the meeting, as well as the speech from Chair Jerome Powell, it was announced that the Fed will be keeping the interest rates steady at the range of 5.25% to 5.50%.

Increasing interest rates create an atmosphere of caution among investors, pulling them away from risky assets such as cryptocurrencies. However, a decrease or keeping them steady acts as a catalyst for a bullish momentum in the crypto market.

Secondly, Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy announced that it acquired an additional 155 BTC worth $5.3 million. As a result, the total holdings of the company now stand at 158,400 BTC, which at market rate is worth around $5.54 billion.

These reasons caused enough bullishness in the market to propel Bitcoin beyond $35,000. However, the more important development would be the impact of this rally on altcoins.

Bitcoin enthusiasm could spill over to altcoins

Bitcoin’s rally is bound to have a likely bullish impact on other crypto assets as well, and this is also the case at the moment. Apart from BTC and Ethereum, the total market cap of other altcoins is preparing to breach through an 18-month-long downtrend that has resulted in a declining market capitalization since May 2022.

Total altcoins market capitalization, excluding Ethereum

The total circulating value of all the other altcoins is around $370.38 billion at the time of writing.  If the market cap closes above the weekly downtrend line, a breakout would be confirmed, providing a much-needed boost to the altcoins.

In the past 24 hours, many altcoins have noted a rise, but the two altcoins that stand out are Solana and Shiba Inu. Both the tokens are on the verge of a breakout and could rally ahead if the downtrend line is tested as throwback support.

Shiba Inu, at the time of writing, is trading at $0.00000793 on the 3-day chart, and a candlestick close above the downtrend line (dotted) would serve as the confirmation of a breakout.

SHIB/USD 3-day chart

However, such breakouts have been noted to fail in the past, which calls for investors to be diligent before jumping in to make profits.

Read more - SOL open interest rises nearly $50 million in three days as Solana price revisits pre-FTX collapse highs