Bitcoin falls amid wait-and-see attitude ahead of US FOMC meeting

The market "The Fed is expected to keep interest rates unchanged after the FOMC meeting" is the prevailing opinion
BTC and altcoins are in a downward trend during the day due to the depletion of buying pressure due to market caution
Joo Gi-young "BTC's bull market has ended...sideways or downward movement for 6-12 months"

The cryptocurrency market, including , fell on March 18 amid heightened caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) interest rate announcement on March 19.

The market is expressing the view that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged at the FOMC meeting. This is because many Fed officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, have hinted at keeping rates steady since the last FOMC meeting.

If the Fed announces a rate hold after the FOMC meeting, the market is expected to experience significant volatility, and the buying pressure seems to have been depleted.

During the trading day on March 18, fell about 1.4%, and many coins fell about 2%.

◇ = As of 4 pm on March 18 based on Upbit, the price of is 12,135 million won. 's market dominance is 61.68%.

According to on-chain analysis platform Glassnode, the long (bullish) and short (bearish) betting ratio in the futures market is 63.00% and 37.00%, respectively.

Joo Gi-young, CEO of Cryptoquant, predicted that the bull market has ended and that will likely trade sideways or decline for about 6-12 months, based on various on-chain data.

The data attached by Joo shows a graph of the market cycle transition based on buying and selling pressure. The data currently attached by Joo indicates that the selling pressure is dominant, signaling that will decline.

Joo also analyzed the 365-day moving average of 's 'market value to realized value (MVRV)', 'spent output profit ratio (SOPR)', and 'net unrealized profit and loss (NUPL)'. He said, "All on-chain indicators are signaling a bearish market" and "liquidity is drying up, and whales are selling at lower prices".

◇Rising Coins = As of 4 pm on March 18 based on Upbit, the cryptocurrency that recorded the largest gain from the previous trading day was Loom Network (LOOM), which rose about 30% from 24 hours ago.

Loom Network is a blockchain-based game platform. To solve the scalability issues of Ethereum-based dApps, Loom Network operates different side chains for each dApp, reducing the main chain's overload and supporting the development of large-scale dApps.

The Loom Network token (LOOM) is used for staking or hosting dApps on the chain.

◇Fear and Greed Index = The Digital Asset Fear and Greed Index provided by Alternative is at 34 points, maintaining the 'Fear' stage. The Fear stage (20-39) is a period of high price volatility and trading volume, where prices tend to decline. There is a high likelihood of forming a short-term bottom, so caution is advised when making purchases.

The Cryptocurrency Relative Strength Index (RSI) provided by Glassnode is at 43.6, indicating a 'neutral' state. RSI measures the relative strength of the upward and downward pressure on a specific asset's price, indicating the degree of overbought and oversold conditions.