Bitcoin rises to $77,000 ahead of Fed decision as Trump preps for lengthy Hormuz block
Bitcoin is sitting almost still while the rest of the majors give back gains and oil pushes above $111 on reports of an extended U.S. naval blockade against Iran.
By Shaurya Malwa|Edited by Sam ReynoldsUpdated Apr 29, 2026, 4:29 a.m. Published Apr 29, 2026, 4:27 a.m. Make preferred on
What to know:
- Bitcoin is trading in a tight range just below $77,000 despite surging oil prices and geopolitical tensions over a potential extended U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
- Major altcoins including ether, XRP, Solana and BNB have fallen over the past week while dogecoin is the only top-10 non-stablecoin token to post gains, lifting bitcoin’s market dominance.
- Analysts say bitcoin’s muted reaction reflects supply exhaustion and lower sensitivity to regulatory and central bank news, with $75,000 seen as key downside support and a move back toward $80,000 needed to preserve the current rally structure.
Bitcoin is doing nothing while everything around it moves.
The largest crypto just under $77,000 on Wednesday in Asian hours, up just 0.1% over 24 hours and down 0.8% on the week, holding a tight band even as Brent crude pushed above $111 a barrel on a Wall Street Journal report that President Donald Trump told aides to prepare for an extended U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has said the country is in a "State of Collapse," Trump claimed on Truth Social Tuesday, while Tehran has signaled it may accept an interim deal to reopen the strait if Washington lifts its blockade of Iranian ports.
Ether dropped 2.6% on the week to $2,310. XRP fell 3.8% to $1.39. Solana lost 3.2% to $84.57. BNB shed 2.3% to $625. The exception was dogecoin, up 5.5% on the week to $0.1016, the only top-10 token outside stablecoins to print green over seven days.
Bitcoin's market dominance is slowly climbing again as a result, which is what tends to happen when macro stress arrives and capital rotates into the largest asset.
Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of Split Research, said in a note that bitcoin's relative calm was indicative of a change in market strucute.
"The supply overhang has finally dried up, and the sellers who were spooked by macro shifts or quantum fears have already exited, leaving the market much thinner on the sell-side than it was just a few months ago," he said to CoinDesk over email.
"Bitcoin is far less sensitive to regulatory noise or central bank policy than people think. Its sensitivity is purely a function of wider volatility, and since we're currently in a quieter trading range, there's no immediate rush for the exits," Ebtikar added.
The technical levels are sharper. Analysts at Bitget flagged $75,000 as the line where the upward range that has held since late March breaks, with a clean loss potentially opening room for further downside.
A reversal back toward $80,000 from current levels keeps the rally structure intact and sets up a retest of the resistance that has rejected bitcoin every attempt since February.
The Fed announces its rate decision later on Wednesday, the ECB follows Thursday, and the U.S. equity market sold off Tuesday on growing skepticism about the payoff from artificial intelligence capital expenditure, with Nasdaq 100 futures clawing back 0.4% in Asian hours.
Brent crude whipsawed between gains and losses but stayed elevated near $111 on the blockade reporting, putting renewed pressure on inflation expectations heading into the central bank decisions.
Traders may watch whether bitcoin's apparent supply exhaustion holds against the next macro shock. If Ebtikar's read is correct, the seller base that capitulated through March and April is gone, and bitcoin trades on volatility rather than headlines until something forces a fresh leg of selling. If the read is wrong, $75,000 gets tested quickly and the range break Bitget flagged plays out as drawn.
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