In brief
- Layer 1 tokens take the lead as investors prepare for the highly anticipated FOMC meeting.
- Analyst attributes XRP, BNB, and Hyperliquid’s out-of-pocket performance to coin-specific development.
- With altcoin open interest briefly surging above Bitcoin’s, investor appetite continues to remain elevated.
With the Fed’s crucial interest rate decision in less than 12 hours, a select few altcoins have taken the lead, outperforming others.
BNB takes the lead with a 2.5% return in 24 hours, closely followed by Sui, Hyperliquid, and XRP with 2.2%, 1% and 0.7% growth, respectively.
Altcoins are riding on the coattails of coin-specific developments and not due to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate cut decision scheduled on Wednesday at 2 pm ET, Lai Yuen, investment analyst at Fischer8 Capital, told Decrypt.
Hyperliquid and BNB are benefitting from “chatter around digital asset treasury buying flows, underpinned by solid businesses and clear value-accrual models,” Yuen explained.
The excitement surrounding XRP is fuelled by the newly approved spot ETF, which could launch as early as this week, he added.
Still, Layer 1s have continued to outperform other sectors like meme coins, Layer 2s, or gaming over the past seven and 30 days, data from Velo shows.
With the S&P 500 index and gold up 0.25% and 0.60% on the day and just below their respective record highs, Yuen noted that equities and gold were seeing a strong bid heading into the FOMC, while “crypto continues to lag with majors capped by lower highs.”
Despite the short-term bearish market structure, institutions continue to accumulate.
Last week’s $2.34 billion inflow into U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds pushed global exchange-traded product holdings to new highs, according to a previous Decrypt report.
Meanwhile, crypto prime broker FalconX has withdrawn 413,075 SOL from Binance, Coinbase, ByBit, and OKX on Tuesday, data intelligence platform Arkham shows.
That could be a sign of accumulation from larger players as they seek to reduce their stockpiles on exchanges to sell quickly.
Speculation surrounding altcoins has climbed to new highs as noted by the recent surge in altcoin open interest that briefly overtook Bitcoin’s on September 13, per Coinanalyze data.
The uptick in leverage highlights the investors’ “eagerness for alt season,” ahead of the fourth quarter’s historically bullish performance, Stephen Gregory, founder of crypto trading platform Vtrader, previously told Decrypt.
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