The United States Federal Reserve announced a third consecutive rate cut, this time by 25 basis points.

Unlike the previous such occasions in the past few months, bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market headed south immediately and violently.

Perhaps the reason for this lies in Fed Chair Jerome Powells words as he hinted that the central bank might halt its current policy of reducing the key interest rates due to the alarming CPI data that came out for November and October.

Today was a closer call but we decided it was the right call, he said.

Bitcoins price tumbled hard as the asset plummeted to a multi-day low of $100,250, and the freefall doesnt seem to be near its end. The cryptocurrency had already retraced from $108,300 to $105,000 within a day, making a 36-hour decline of more than eight grand.

Bitcoin/Price/Chart 18.12.2024. Source: TradingView Naturally, the more volatile by nature altcoins felt the pain even more. XRP is among the poorest performers on a daily scale, as it briefly dumped below $2.2 minutes ago before bouncing to $2.3. Nevertheless, Ripples native token is down by over 11% on a daily scale.

The price declines from DOGE, AVAX, and SHIB are similar, while ETH, BNB, and SOL have posted slightly less painful drops.

Still, the total crypto market cap, which had already tumbled by $150 billion since yesterday, has lost another $200 billion and is down to $3,650 trillion on CG.

The total value of wrecked positions has skyrocketed to almost $700 million, according to CoinGlass. Longs are responsible for the lions share ($600 million), while the overall number of liquidated traders is above 250,000 on a daily scale.

Liquidation Heat Map. Source: CoinGlass