Bitcoin (BTC) climbed by over $2,000 on Dec. 15 every bit markets apace reacted to news that the United states of america Federal Reserve would enhance involvement rates and curtail its bail-buying program starting in 2022.

BTC/USD one-hour candle nautical chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

"Kind of what we were thinking"

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $49,310 on Bitstamp, its highest since Dec. 12,  when the toll briefly popped above the $50,000 marking.

The momentum came after the Fed hinted that it could heighten its criterion rate three times side by side year, surpassing investor expectations. It would as well increase the pace of its nugget purchasing taper, the primal bank said.

Concerns previously focused on such plans having a negative impact on both traditional and crypto markets, thanks to drying upwards of the "easy" availability of liquidity. In the issue, however, information technology seemed that the information lay uncertainty over the policy to rest.

"From an disinterestedness perspective, now they simply have to focus on earnings, margins and growth," CNBC quoted Jim Caron, a senior portfolio manager and chief strategist on the global stock-still Income team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management as saying.

"It'due south kind of a sigh of relief to the equities marketplace who thought it might be much more than aggressive. Information technology'due south kind of what we were thinking anyway."

With that, the S&P 500 added small gains, while altcoins joined Bitcoin in inching up just under v%. At the time of writing, BTC/USD was consolidating at around $49,000.

Popular analysts remained cautious. While Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe maintained that the BTC lesser was hit on Dec. 4, William Clemente opted to concur off on advising a market entry at current prices.

"My gut has been telling me to purchase BTC, just sticking to my plan to be a heir-apparent at $53K confirmation. Must follow plan," he told Twitter followers.

An go out from the almost recent range for December would exist marked by $53,000, which would also return Bitcoin to a $1 trillion market cap valuation.

Ethereum tops $4,000

Major cap altcoins continued to be led by Solana (SOL), which capitalized on previous gains to deliver xiv% daily growth at the time of writing.

Ethereum (ETH), the largest altcoin by marketplace cap, recaptured the $four,000 marker during its own Fed-induced rally.

ETH/BTC 1-60 minutes candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Against Bitcoin, ETH returned above the 0.08 BTC marking after hitting local lows of 0.078 earlier in the day.