Global cryptocurrency markets experienced heightened volatility on July 29, 2026, as investors braced for the U. S.
Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate decision while reacting to escalation in Middle Eastern geopolitical tensions.
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Total market capitalization ticked up 1.2 percent to roughly 2 trillion euros.
Bitcoin rose 1.3 percent to approximately 56,400 euros, recovering slightly after dropping by several thousand dollars earlier in the week.
Ethereum slipped 1.5 percent to 1,670 euros, while XRP gained 2.8 percent to trade near 0.94 euros.
Market uncertainty was compounded when Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles at a suspected U. S.
base in Jordan. The U.
S. military intercepted all incoming projectiles, reporting no casualties or structural damage.
Oil prices surged following the attack, with U. S.
crude rising over 7 percent after aggressive public warnings from President Donald Trump.
Economic expectations surrounding the Federal Open Market Committee meeting remained unusually split.
CME Group's FedWatch tool indicated a 33.7 to 35.8 percent probability of a surprise 25-basis-point rate hike, a significant jump from 25.7 percent a week earlier.
Market maker Citadel Securities issued a research note forecasting an unexpected rate increase to the 3.75 to 4.00 percent range.
The institution argued that an immediate rate hike would decisively end the era of heavy forward guidance.
"An unexpected rate hike would emphatically end the era of forward guidance where every policy move is pre-announced and act as a cleansing moment, forcing markets to price what the data implies the central bank should do rather than what it is expected to do," said Frank Flight, head of macro strategy at Citadel Securities.
