BTC, which had reached a 5-week high, suddenly fell as traders try to make sense of the Fed’s decision

The U.S. Fed decided to raise interest rates by 50 basis points as expected, while setting the stage for a slower pace of hikes in the coming months. Ethereum also retreated from its recent highs, falling below $1,300 earlier in the day.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin was trading below $18,000 again as bears returned to the market after the latest Fed meeting. After a move to a five-week high of $18,318.53 on Wednesday, BTC slipped to an intraday low of $17,642.51 earlier today.

The decline appears to stem from traders’ desire to secure their profits after posting three consecutive days of gains.

Looking at the chart, this price reversal coincided with the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) failing to break out of a ceiling at 60.00. At the time of writing, the index is at the 57.17 level, with the next visible support point at 54.00.

Should price strength find its way to this floor, it is likely that BTC will trade near the $17,200 point.

Ethereum

In addition to bitcoin, ethereum also fell on Thursday following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to raise rates by 0.5%. After the decision, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell gave some guidance to the market by stating that they “are approaching the level we think is restrictive enough“.

ETH fell to a low of $1,280.52 earlier in today’s session, less than 24 hours after hitting a high of $1,346.17.

As seen on the chart, the decline looks like ETH has failed to break out of its long-term ceiling of $1,300. Overall, prices are down nearly 4% from yesterday’s high, with the RSI currently at 50.92, which is slightly above a low at 50.00.

Bulls will see this as a positive and hope that today’s sell-off does not continue for the rest of the week.