Will there be a Christmas rally for Bitcoin and Ethereum, post-Fed?

Cryptocurrency market traders´s worst fears were not confirmed on Wednesday, despite the fact that the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) monetary policy decision met exactly what the analysts' consensus predicted. The world's most powerful central bank doubled down on 'tapering' and now foresees rate hikes in 2022. Also, the risk of inflation is "becoming more persistent" and "real", according to Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell. However, Bitcoin, Ethereum and most 'altcoins' show a rebound that, although modest, proves right all those who proclaimed that cryptoassets had already discounted the monetary supervisor's move after their recent falls.

Bitcoin is now 33% below its November all-time highs, but the queen of digital currencies is not out of the woods yet, as bearish traders let their claws show in the short term. However, the behavior of the 'crypto' market seems to prove right those who had warned that we witnessed a "sell the rumor, buy the news" movement, with rises above $49,000 on Wednesday. All in all, the close below $47,000 raises a red flag, as this price level becomes a real waterline for Bitcoin, which it must continue to hold if it has the slightest intention of staging a Christmas rally.

The slight bearish bias that the most traded of the digital tokens is maintaining, persists, as Craig Erlam, analyst at Oanda, pointed out "as it struggles to build momentum above $50,000." "Earlier this week it dipped below $47,000, but quickly found its groove again," and he added, "I guess we'll soon see if Bitcoin can expect a Santa Claus rally."

As for Ethereum, it battles with $4,000, a price level that acted as support previously and is now a formidable resistance. Even so, the number two cryptocurrency left highs above this level on Wednesday and insists on its attempts to overcome it. The technical picture of Ether - the native unit of the Ethereum network - suggests that the price is encapsulated in a range that goes between this resistance and $3,660, in round numbers, with a December 4th low at the gates of $3,500, a barrier that analysts at IG Markets warn it must hold to avoid further falls.

As for the rest of the 'altcoins', they remain in the green on Thursday after the rebound of most tokens post-Fed. Specifically, tokens such as Solana or Avalanche leave notable rises, while Dogecoin returns to the red after rising more than 15% yesterday, thanks to statements by Tesla´s CEO Elon Musk that he will accept the 'crptomeme' as a means of payment. Total capitalization is back above $2.2 trillion.

However, other concerns hover over the market. On the one hand, there is the repeated refusal of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on physical Bitcoin. Specifically, the US markets regulator's reasons for rejecting VanEck's fund in November caught some investors by surprise, as it cited an inability to prevent crypto market manipulation due to unregulated trading platforms and the large volume of trading based on Tether's (USDT) 'stablecoin'.

Moreover, recent declines coincide with more global market fears about pandemic developments, especially following the emergence of the new Covid variant, Omicron. Finally, as mentioned by 'CoinTelegraph', bearish derivatives market piles are in control of $755 million of options on Bitcoin, that expire on Friday, as long as the price remains below $48,000.

However, other technical signals and the behavior of the whales, who seem to be actively buying and entering the market at these prices, provide hope that another bull run could be seen before the end of the year, as analyst Michaël van de Poppe pointed out on his Twitter account.

Moreover, the same analyst posted, shortly after, that "fear is slowly fading away as nothing special came out of the Fed meeting."

In very short-term standards, Bitcoin has support just around the corner at last week's lows ($47,215) and resistance at last week's highs ($52,195). "And all of the above within a clear, long-term, underlying uptrend that has not been threatened in the slightest. However, unlike other market moments, there is no more or less clear potential pattern", explained José María Rodríguez, technical analyst at Bolsamanía.