<\/p>\n
Jerome Powell and the Fed are set to hold rates at 3.5%\u20133.75% despite Trump pressure, leaving Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana rangebound as traders focus on Powell\u2019s tone over future cuts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jerome Powell and Federal Reserve opens 2026 in a holding pattern, and markets are pricing it in.\u200b<\/p>\n
The Federal Open Market Committee meets on January 27\u201328, with its policy statement due at 2 p.m. ET on January 28, followed by Jerome Powell\u2019s press conference. Investors can watch the decision and Q&A on the Fed\u2019s website<\/a> and its official YouTube channel<\/a>. For India-based traders, the rate decision lands at 12:30 a.m. IST and Powell speaks at 1:00 a.m. IST on Thursday, reflecting the shift from US Daylight Saving Time.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n This is the Fed\u2019s first scheduled policy meeting of 2026 and it comes after three straight 25 basis point cuts, which have taken the federal funds rate down to a 3.5%\u20133.75% range. Despite \u201catypical political pressure from the Trump administration to cut rates,\u201d the central bank is \u201cwidely expected to leave interest rates unchanged\u201d this week. Akshat Garg, Head \u2013 Research & Product at Choice Wealth, argues that \u201call signs point to the central bank hitting the pause button at this week\u2019s meeting, likely holding rates steady in the 3.50%\u20133.75% range.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Garg frames this as a strategic breather: investors should treat it as a \u201cwait-and-see\u201d phase rather than a pivot, with Powell \u201cperfectly comfortable sitting on his hands until the economic picture clears up.\u201d After \u201caggressively cutting rates late last year,\u201d the committee wants earlier moves to work through \u201cthe plumbing of the economy\u201d before contemplating further easing.<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n \u201cA pause would align with the Fed\u2019s data-dependent approach,\u201d says Seema Srivastava, Senior Research Analyst at SMC Global Securities. She notes that inflation has \u201ceased from prior peaks but remains above the Fed\u2019s 2% goal,\u201d while consumer spending is \u201csteady,\u201d labour conditions are \u201crelatively tight,\u201d and financial markets have \u201cloosened modestly on expectations of future cuts.\u201d Holding rates here, she adds, tempers \u201coverly aggressive market bets on near-term cuts\u201d and \u201creaffirm[s] the Fed\u2019s commitment to prudent monetary stewardship\u201d guided by evidence rather than \u201cshort-term sentiment or external pressures.\u201d<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n Across digital assets, price action into the Fed is firm but not euphoric. Bitcoin (BTC) trades near $89,100, roughly flat over the last 24 hours as spot moves cluster between about $88,900 and $89,500 with volumes above $34 billion. Ethereum (ETH) changes hands around $3,008, up roughly 2.5% versus the prior day as daily turnover tops $29.3 billion. Solana (SOL) trades close to $126.9, gaining about 2.4% in 24 hours.<\/a><\/p>\n For macro and crypto traders alike, tonight\u2019s message is simple: watch the tone, not just the dot plot\u2014and keep one eye on how risk assets digest a Fed that is in no hurry to cut again.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jerome Powell and the Fed are set to hold rates at 3.5%\u20133.75% despite Trump pressure, leaving Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana rangebound as traders focus on Powell\u2019s tone over future cuts.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20795,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20794\/revisions\/20795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Policy path: a deliberate pause<\/h2>\n
Macro backdrop: disinflation with risk<\/h2>\n
Crypto market check: 24\u2011hour moves<\/h2>\n