Bitcoin nears $81,000 ahead of Fed decision as ZEC jumps 8%

Bitcoin climbed nearly 2% to just under $81,000 as of Wednesday Asian morning hours, clawing back the weekend’s slip to nearly $79,000 as traders braced for the Federal Reserve’s rate decision later in the day.

ZEC led the majors, jumping 8% to about $1,320 and putting it back above $1,300 after Monday’s selloff. HYPE added nearly 5% to about $81. XRP and DOGE rose roughly 3%, while ether gained 2% to just above $2,350 and SOL climbed about 2% to $102. BNB rose 1%, and TRX lagged with a gain of less than 1%, according to CoinDesk data.

The bounce came a day after Galaxy told investors that now is the time to accumulate bitcoin.

“We think the bear market ended in June and that bitcoin is in the accumulation phase that has preceded every prior advance,” Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy, said in the note.

Thorn said the bottom likely came in June, when bitcoin traded under $58,000. He pointed to bitcoin’s move back above its 50-week moving average — the average of its last 50 weekly closes, which traders use to judge the longer-term trend — along with lighter selling pressure and rising U.S. debt. That’s a confident call for a market that has struggled to hold $80,000.

Traders will now be listening to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s press conference for any hint of a December rate hike. A hike would make borrowing more expensive and tends to pull money out of riskier assets like crypto.