September 18 futures data: Bitcoin rises 5% to 61K, however, the order book shows that the upward trend may be limited

Bitcoin surged to $61,000 Tuesday during the early hours of the U.S session as cryptocurrencies rose ahead of tomorrow's key Federal Reserve meeting, at which the central bank is universally expected to cut its benchmark fed funds rate for the first time in four years.

The largest and oldest cryptocurrency led the digital asset market higher, hitting its highest price since in three weeks at $61,330 before giving up some of the gains. It recently changed hands slightly below the $61,000 level, still up more than 5% over the past 24 hours.

Despite the rally, bitcoin continues to trade in a fairly tight range and seems unlikely to break out before Wednesday's meeting of the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The BTC-USDT order book data, the most liquid trading pair across spot crypto exchanges, shows significant sell orders between $61,000 and $62,500, pushing against the idea of a further price increase in the short term.

"Looking ahead, a lot of the focus will be around positioning into tomorrow's highly anticipated Fed event risk," said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group in a Tuesday market update.

The market is still uncertain on whether the Fed will cut 25 basis points or opt for a larger 50 basis point move. A bit more than 24 hours prior to the central bank's decision, investors have priced in a 63% probability for the more sizable cut, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. "Investors are welcoming the prospect of a larger, more investor friendly Fed rate cut at tomorrow’s meeting, and yield differentials have moved out of the U.S. dollar’s favor as a consequence, added Kruger.

Source: CoinDesk

 

Since Bitcoin reclaimed the $60K mark, shortsellers got in trouble across markets - but that doesn't stop traders from opening new (most likely long) positions.

Total BTC Open Interest: $31.73B (+3.60%)

BTC Volume (24H): $71.30 (+47.98%)

BTC Liquidations (24H): $13.60M (Long)/$36.89M (Short)

Long/Short Ratio: 51.12%/48.88%

Funding Rate: 0.0022%

 

Total ETH Open Interest: $10.64B (+0.10%)

ETH Volume (24H): $22.32B (+12.89%)

ETH Liquidations (24H): $8.87M (Long)/$12.51M (Short)

Long/Short Ratio: 50.36%/49.64%

Funding Rate: 0.0022%

1000NEIROCTO: $9.39M (+332.14%)

NEIRO: $44.38M (+237.66%)

ZBCN: $3.05M (+107.36%)