Altcoins Surge Following Federal Reserve Rate Cut

According to CoinDesk, altcoins have outperformed bitcoin following the Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates on Wednesday. Cryptocurrencies excluding ether and bitcoin have risen by 5.7% since the announcement, while bitcoin has increased by 4.4%. Experts note that this divergence is not unusual due to altcoins' poorer liquidity and higher beta. Bob Wallden, head of trading at investment firm Abra, explained that altcoins are higher beta than bitcoin and ether, making them a leveraged play on the broader crypto market. This is similar to how tech stocks outperform the S&P 500 during periods of market growth. Total3, an index tracking the market capitalization of the top 125 cryptocurrencies excluding bitcoin and ether, was trading 5.68% higher since the Federal Reserve's announcement to cut the Federal Funds rate by 50 basis points. In contrast, bitcoin's market cap rose by only 4.4%. The asset class, which includes all crypto assets besides bitcoin and ether, may have also benefited from a recent period of overselling. Wallden noted that this overselling is adding velocity to their bounce back. Bohan Jiang, Head of OTC options trading at Abra, added that the relatively low liquidity levels of altcoins mean they tend to move with greater volatility. He explained that altcoins are at the fringes of the liquidity spectrum and will always show convex performance when risk assets perform well and liquidity is abundant, as seems to be the case post-FOMC. Jiang also mentioned that altcoins perform as a function of liquidity and positioning. The liquidity in altcoins is substantially poorer, causing outsized moves in both directions. Extended short positioning over the past few months can lead to short-squeeze-like outperformance higher. Following the Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates, bitcoin surged above $64,000 on Thursday, a price last seen on August 26. It later adjusted and is currently trading at $62,898.