Bitcoin and Ethereum Continue Slide, Despite End of QT and 25bps cut from Fed

With October 2025’s FOMC, the Fed’s announcement of the expected 25bps rate cut along with announcing the end of the Quantitative Tightening program on December 1st had little effect in quelling the selloff seen in crypto markets. Fed Chair Powell’s comments on another cut coming in December is “far from assured” have spooked all markets. Leading crypto BTC is down over 2% on the day and showing weakness in the order books. Many expected the announcements made by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee today, leading the event to be a classic “sell the news” scenario. Bitcoin continues to lag equities indices, but many are hoping to see bitcoin repeat its 2020 Q4 playbook with the massive run-up seen in gold. With tomorrow’s meeting set between China’s Xi and President Trump, the market could see good news and rebound. This remains to be seen.

Ethereum has followed bitcoin’s chart from the highly anticipated news today, trading below $4,000 and testing the $3,800 level. Ethereum’s struggles to maintain upward momentum face even greater pressure, as the Digital Asset Treasury company narrative has run into some strong headwinds. ETHZilla (Nasdaq; ETHZ) , one of the larger of the DAT’s, announced a share buyback program yesterday as its shares are trading below NAV, hoping to bolster the equity price. The company has up to $250m in buyback authorization, but this scenario can often turn into a death spiral, as many market participants remember the days of Grayscale’s pre-ETF products GBTC and ETHE going from premiums to discounts in market downturns. With the need for capital to buy back shares, several of these DAT’s will have to sell their underlying assets (like Ether) to fund purchases, creating a not so favorable feedback loop for crypto markets.