Ether (ETH) surged almost 7% over the past 24 hours, leading the charge among major cryptocurrencies as traders gear up for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
This rise in ETH coincided with a 4% increase in the memecoin dogecoin (DOGE), which has historically shown correlated movement with ETH. Additionally, other Ethereum-related memecoins like pepe (PEPE) and mog (MOG) gained over 5%, acting as leveraged investments.
In other developments, major cryptocurrencies such as XRP, BNB (from BNB Chain), Solana’s SOL, and Cardano’s ADA also experienced a 3% increase. Meanwhile, Tron’s TRX saw a decline after an earlier spike of 5%, likely linked to increased memecoin trading on its blockchain following a no-fee update on the Sunpump platform.
Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 2% and remained stable beneath the $84,000 mark during Asian evening hours before the FOMC meeting, where traders anticipate interest rates will remain unchanged. Analysts are watching the $80,000 threshold closely, as a breach below it could indicate the loss of crucial support.
The popular ETH/BTC trading pair increased from 0.23 to 0.24 during the morning hours in Asia, reflecting heightened demand for the higher-risk ETH in comparison to the perceived stability of bitcoin.
ETH’s rise didn’t stem from any immediate triggers; however, the underlying network is working on significant technical enhancements. The upcoming Pectra upgrade, Ethereum’s next substantial update, is currently undergoing testing and is designed to boost scalability, staking capabilities, and user experience through over 20 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), such as EIP-7702 (smart account functionality) and EIP-7251 (increasing validator staking limits to 2,048 ETH).
Testing commenced on the Holesky testnet in February 2025, followed by Sepolia in March, but faced hurdles such as transaction processing challenges resulting from client incompatibilities. A new testnet named Hooli launched on March 17, with Pectra testing set for March 26. If all goes well, a mainnet rollout is anticipated for late April or early May 2025.
“Bitcoin has found some support at the $80,000 level, but that position seems precarious amidst broader macroeconomic challenges,” traders from a Singapore-based firm mentioned in a broadcast message. “While we don’t aim to pinpoint the exact moment market conditions shift, we find it challenging to identify significant factors that could reverse this downward trend in the short term.”
“We will be keeping a close eye out for any dovish statements, particularly regarding growth and inflation predictions. Considering it will take time for the impact of tariffs to filter through the economy, we anticipate the Federal Reserve will remain in a cautious stance,” they added.
Meanwhile, gold climbed above $3,000 to reach new heights earlier on Wednesday, leading some to speculate on an inverse relationship between the precious metal and bitcoin.
“While bitcoin has traditionally correlated with gold as a macroeconomic hedge, its current divergence—showing a drop while gold ascends—suggests it is behaving more like a risk asset, influenced by uncertainties around Federal Reserve policy, profit-taking, and a shift towards conventional safe-haven assets,” noted the Chief Analyst at Bitget Research in a Telegram message.
“The outcome of the FOMC could either spark a recovery if it’s dovish, or further deepen the correction if hawkish, with bitcoin’s short-term direction linked to broader economic indicators rather than solely reinforcing its identity as ‘digital gold,’” the analyst added.