Bitcoin and ether fell Thursday, tracking broader risk-off sentiment, after the Fed held interest rates and boosted the U.S. dollar. Energy markets surged as the war with Iran escalated, with oil and gas prices spiking, adding macro pressure to crypto. Altcoins underperformed due to thin liquidity, though a few tokens, like NEO and ETHFI, posted gains.
Brent crude oil rose to $114, and Oman crude pushed up to $150. European natural gas futures surged about 25% to above $78 per MWh on Thursday as Iran attacked key Gulf energy infrastructure after an Israeli strike on its South Pars gas field. Bitcoin traded near $70,000, having lost 1.6% since midnight UTC, while ether dropped 1.7% to $2,160. The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged in the 3.50%-3.75% range, pausing a rate-cutting cycle to boost the U.S. dollar. Risk assets tumbled across the board, with Nasdaq 100 futures down by around 0.3% since midnight UTC. Derivatives positioning showed nearly $600 million in leveraged crypto futures bets liquidated, with longs accounting for most of the tally. Bearish short plays are in demand, as evidenced by negative funding rates for BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL, and other tokens. Fear has crept back into the market, with Volmex's BVIV jumping over 5% to 58.36%, ending a week-long decline. On Deribit, bitcoin and ether put skews have strengthened, indicating heightened downside concerns. Several altcoins, notably bittensor (TAO) and hyperliquid (HYPE), saw deep moves to the downside, losing 8.8% and 6.5%, respectively. A select few tokens, like NEO and ETHFI, showed strength despite the broader market pullback. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), DeFi Select Index (DFX), and CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) are all down, with CD20 losing around 1% since midnight, DFX down by 1.4%, and CDMEME down by 2%.