U.S. Fed Leaves Lending Rate Unchanged Amid Executive Pressure: What Next for Bitcoin Price?

The Federal Reserve maintained its lending rate between 4.25 and 4.5 percent on Wednesday, May 7. The Fed downplayed the immense pressure from the U.S. President Donald Trump to lower its benchmark interest rates, as the committee continues to judge the risks of higher unemployment and inflation caused by the ongoing trade wars.

According to the announcement, the Fed will continue to reduce its holdings of Treasury securities, thus highlighting its bid on Quantitative Tightening (QT). However, the Fed noted that it will act appropriately in case of risk emergence to ensure maximum employment and reduce inflation to 2 percent.

Midterm Expectations for Bitcoin Price

Following the announcement, the wider crypto market recorded mild losses. After Bitcoin price teasing above $97k earlier on Wednesday, the flagship coin retraced slightly to trade about $96,156 during the mid-North American trading session.

From a technical analysis perspective, Bitcoin price faces a short term bearish sentiment, especially after being rejected twice at the resistance level about $97.6k since the beginning of May. 

In the four-hour timeframe, Bitcoin price has been consolidating between $93,685 and $97k. If the flagship coin breaches the established support level around $93.6k, a drop towards $91k will be inevitable in the near future.

However, a consistent close above $97k in the coming days will set the tone for a rally towards the all-time high above $100k.

Closer Look at Whale Activity

To understand the Bitcoin whale activity, it is prudent to study the U.S. spot BTC ETF market. In the past three weeks, the U.S. spot BTC ETFs have recorded a positive but declining cash flow. Nevertheless, Bitcoin maximalist investors – led by BlackRock’s IBIT, Strategy, and Metaplanet, among others – have continued to accumulate more BTC coins regardless of the underlying price volatility.Moreover, Bitcoin price is expected to follow Golf price action in the long haul, catalyzed by rising global money supply and high demand from institutional investors.