According to PANews, 10x Research's latest report highlights the complex and volatile nature of the cryptocurrency trading environment during the December 2024 U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and the subsequent holiday season. Despite the challenges, certain sectors present profitable opportunities. Bitcoin remains in a consolidation phase, lacking a sustained upward trend and fluctuating within a tactical trading range, offering strategic positioning opportunities rather than a simple bullish trend.
The beginning of the new year is expected to bring some initial enthusiasm, but it is not anticipated to replicate the bullish sentiment seen from late January to March or late September to mid-December 2024. A positive performance is expected at the start of the year, followed by a slight pullback before the release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on January 15. If inflation data is favorable, it could reignite optimism, potentially driving the market up before the January 20 inauguration. However, this momentum might weaken, with the market possibly experiencing a slight decline before the FOMC meeting on January 29.
From January to mid-November 2024, Bitcoin's dominance surged from 50% to 60%, significantly hindering the performance of altcoins. Although the dominance metric briefly dropped to 53% within three weeks, sparking hopes for an altcoin season, it quickly rebounded to nearly 58% and then consolidated around 55%. This consolidation underscores Bitcoin's enduring dominance as the primary driver of the cryptocurrency market, suggesting potential challenges for altcoins unless Bitcoin's dominance metric declines again.
