The momentum now hinges on project-specific catalysts, with altcoins more exposed to volatility than Bitcoin, experts told Decrypt.
Avalanche (AVAX) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) led the altcoin rally on Thursday as digital assets responded positively to the Federal Reserve’s latest rate cut and project-specific developments.
The rally follows the Fed’s widely anticipated quarter-point rate cut, which lowered the federal funds rate to a range of between 4.25% to 4.50%.
Bitcoin and other major digital assets largely traded flat in the immediate aftermath, as investors had already priced in the highly anticipated Fed call.
“While the Fed’s rate cut buoyed broader risk sentiment, AVAX’s outperformance seems driven by Avalanche’s announcement of a $1 billion Digital Asset Treasury plan,” Min Jung, senior analyst at quantitative trading firm Presto, told Decrypt.
The Avalanche Foundation is in advanced talks to raise $1 billion via a Nasdaq-listed firm backed by Hivemind and a Dragonfly-sponsored SPAC, with proceeds earmarked for discounted AVAX buybacks, according to the Financial Times.
Bitwise also filed paperwork on Monday for an AVAX ETF, utilizing Coinbase to custody the digital assets, which adds to the token’s institutional adoption prospects.
Jung noted the rally could “sustain in the near term as the biggest macro risk event — the FOMC — has now been cleared,” though with the cut “largely digested,” moves will depend on “headlines and project-specific catalysts.”
Ganesh Mahidhar, Investment Professional at Further Ventures, told Decrypt that in the case of Hyperliquid, its stablecoin “USDH is attracting liquidity across the board from many institutions,” with perp trading built so that “custody is not with the exchange but the UX is just as smooth as a centralized exchange,” he said.
“In terms of macro, the rate cut news definitely has had an impact,” he added, though it may be “short-lived” since cuts had been “priced into the markets for many months now.”
Nic Puckrin, founder of The Coin Bureau, told Decrypt that “it’s the signal, not the size, that counts,” noting the 25bp cut shows the Fed is finally easing after months of inflation and weak labor data.
“Hope is high and there’s a big chance of a ‘sell the news’ pullback,” he added, with meme coins most vulnerable to “pump fast and collapse fast” volatility.
