On Thursday, Bitcoin climbed to $76,621, marking an increase of 0.60% from midnight UTC and 0.88% over a 24-hour window, as speculative assets concentrated on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate projections rather than its initial rate hike in over three years. Meanwhile, Ether advanced 1.1% to reach $2,444.36, and Solana gained 2% to trade at $100.57.
The Federal Open Market Committee elected to elevate the benchmark rate by 25 basis points, bringing the target range to 3.75%-4%. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh informed reporters that inflation had remained “excessively high … for too long” and that readings from recent months failed to signal meaningful improvement in underlying trajectories.
Traders found reassurance in the committee’s “dot plot” projection, which anticipates a median benchmark rate of 4.1% at the conclusion of both 2026 and 2027. This outlook points to just one additional 25 basis-point adjustment without indicating an extended tightening cycle.
Risk-on assets experienced an upward surge, with the Dollar Index retreating 0.17%, Nasdaq 100 futures moving up 1.04%, S&P 500 futures rising 0.81%, gold climbing 1.02%, and silver expanding 1.52%. Additionally, the two-year Treasury yield dropped by 2 basis points to 4.71% following a peak at its highest mark since 2024 during the preceding session.
Cryptocurrencies participated in the broader market advance instead of spearheading it, marking a shift from earlier in the week when the asset class operated independently from equities. The market-wide recovery is expansive yet proves more pronounced within speculative segments; 94 out of the 100 CoinDesk 100 components posted gains over the 24-hour timeframe, and the smaller-cap CoinDesk 80 index climbed 4.7% contrasted with a 1.2% rise for the bitcoin-dominated CoinDesk 5.
Nevertheless, capital flows into institutional products have not yet reversed direction. According to SoSoValue, U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds experienced outflows of $295.98 million on Wednesday after shedding $450.33 million the day prior. This brings the cumulative total since Sept. 8 to over $1 billion across seven consecutive sessions, pushing total net assets downward to $95.19 billion.
Bitcoin continues to trade 6.9% below its monthly high of $82,284 established on Sept. 4.
Derivatives positioning
- Aggregate open interest across crypto futures advanced to $64.4 billion from $59.7 billion on Monday, backed by $112.6 billion in 24-hour volume and $214.3 million in liquidations over the past day, based on data from Coinalyze. These metrics indicate that traders are actively expanding their exposure into the upward price movement rather than simply covering short positions.
- Bitcoin open interest grew 1.41% to hit $26.6 billion, while ether open interest increased 1.39% to reach $16.7 billion. Ether accounted for $60.7 million in liquidations, compared to bitcoin’s $42.4 million.
- Zcash (ZEC) presents the most notable performance, as open interest surged 37.84% to $2.2 billion within a 24-hour period, accompanied by $28.9 million in liquidations and a negative funding rate of -0.0253%. This negative rate means short sellers were compensating long holders even as the cryptocurrency reached fresh peaks. Market participants spent the entire month betting against this upward trajectory and faced continuous short squeezes as a consequence.
- Bitcoin funding remains positive and is drifting upward, with the aggregated rate sitting at 0.0070% and the predicted rate at 0.0082%. However, cross-exchange spreads remain wide, ranging from Kraken at 0.0153% down to Huobi at -0.0003%.
- Coinalyze’s long/short indicator demonstrates a bias toward bullish participants, registering a ratio of 1.13. This metric has remained positive for eight consecutive days following a three-week stretch in negative territory.
Token talk
- The privacy coin zcash (ZEC) rallied 23% over 24 hours to approximately $1,369, marking an all-time high. This surge occurred after Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang revealed via an X post that his investment firm holds ZEC, characterizing it as “a private complement to Bitcoin” and voicing support for ongoing funding for its developers. This momentum follows a governance vote during the week where token holders approved shortening block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds while maintaining the bitcoin-style halving schedule, valuing zcash at a market capitalization of $23.2 billion.
- Competing privacy asset Monero (XMR) failed to capture any of the market gains, contracting 0.97% to $494.14 and down 1.6% across the 24-hour window. The valuation gap between the two assets has widened dramatically, leaving zcash worth double its rival.
- Among mid-cap digital assets, NEAR Protocol led the 24-hour performance board by gaining 16% to reach $2.82—7.6% of which occurred after midnight UTC. Meanwhile, Venice Token recovered 14% over the same timeframe to trade at $25.45, restoring the artificial intelligence platform’s token above its pre-vote price level from Tuesday’s Clarity Act.
- Pump.fun led the CoinDesk 80 index for the day with a 7.9% gain, while perpetual exchange token lighter (LIT) advanced 7% to $4.92 and fartcoin increased by 6.4%. These movements signal that speculative traders are returning to the market after focusing primarily on bitcoin following the August short squeeze.
- As a direct consequence, CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” metric crept upward to 39/100, having spent the majority of the week hovering near 32/100.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/09/17/crypto-rallies-through-the-fed-s-first-rate-increase-since-2023.
