Bitcoin Juggles $120 Oil and Fed’s ‘Most Hawkish’ Interest-Rate Pause

Bitcoin (BTC) failed to recover new support on Thursday as oil hit its highest levels in nearly four years.

Key points:

• Bitcoin struggles to recoup recent lost ground as geopolitical factors weigh on momentum.
• UK Brent crude oil spot markets record their highest levels since June 2022.
• The Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision is called Chair Jerome Powell’s “most hawkish in years.”

Bitcoin falls on “most hawkish” Fed meeting

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD circling $76,000, down around 2% from the previous day’s high.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

A combination of high oil prices and the US Federal Reserve’s “most hawkish” meeting in years kept risk-asset optimism low.

Both were a result of the ongoing US-Iran war, which showed no sign of resolution.

“Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!” US President Donald Trump wrote in one of his latest posts on Truth Social.

Source: Truth Social

Amid the tensions, spot Brent crude oil passed $120 per barrel for the first time since June 2022.

“Asia is facing its worst even crisis in history and Europe has just weeks worth of jet fuel left. The US is exporting record amounts of oil as a result,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter responded in a post on X. 

“Inflation is back.”

Spot Brent crude oil one-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Inflation worries were among the guiding factors for Fed officials at Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where they left interest rates unchanged.

While markets expected that outcome, commentators noted a worsening outlook for risk appetite due to changing Fed policy.

Nic Puckrin, CEO and cofounder of crypto education platform Coin Bureau, described the FOMC meeting — the last with Jerome Powell as Chair — as his “most hawkish in years.”

“For the first time since 1992, 4 Federal Reserve members dissented the decision,” he noted.

US two-year Treasury yield versus Fed funds rate futures. Source: Nic Puckrin/X

Puckrin suggested that the Fed’s “soft landing” policy on inflation had also gone. 

“Rates held for the third straight meeting, but the direction of travel just changed,” he summarized.

Source: Truth Social

Trump repeated attacks on Powell after the decision, calling him “too late” in cutting rates ahead of the likely takeover by Kevin Warsh.

As Cointelegraph reported, Trump said that he “would” be disappointed if Warsh did not cut rates at his first FOMC meeting in June.

BTC price 21-day trend line hangs in the balance

BTC price action still managed to respect the 21-day simple moving average (SMA) near $75,500 overnight.

Related: First 21-week trend line reclaim since October 2025: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week

That support line was the key question for trading resource Material Indicators on low time frames.

“Will support hold?” it queried in an X post alongside order-book liquidity data for Binance.

The data showed whale order classes broadly buying the dip, while smaller order classes reduced exposure.

BTC/USDT order-book data (Binance) with whale orders. Source: Material Indicators/X

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