The day after the FOMC. We had a hawkish Fed and as expected the 25 BPS hike. Now, many analysts might say that Powells comments on the US economy are positive. Which is indeed true, the labor market is strong: there are 1.7 jobs for any person looking for one and overall growth is still present at relative strong levels. For the Fed this means that they will reduce their balance sheet at the upcoming meeting in April and will further hike interest rates at the next FOMC.
If we look at the market response we see that both stock and crypto corrected upwards. Many traders or investors will see this as a "buy" signal and my analysis can be thrown in the bin. Personally, I disagree. First, we did not hit the apex of the pattern nor did we see a confirmed break out from 37 or 45K. Factually we are still in the chop zone and open interest on futures and options are still leading price action for the weeks to come. Bitcoin can be stuck within this range and pattern till the end of April, testing patience of many traders - patience - a skill that not many retail traders have.
With the reduction of the Fed's balance sheet and the interest rate hikes of this year we can conclude that the market needs to prepare for at least 5 till up to 10 rate hikes only this year. This is because a reduction of the Fed's balance sheet counts as a rate hike as well, which was clearly mentioned by Powell in yesterday's press conference. As the market priced in up to a 50 BPS hike, market makers now have room for short term upside, depending on the open interest in both futures and options market. A further analysis of the order book, futures and options market will come later this week.
In conclusion, we have room for short term upside and downside blurring a defined trend. However, in the mid and long term I still expect further downside, especially in the equity markets. With inflation damage control being at the center of Monetary policy right now, we can only expect less growth and less liquidity in the markets in the long term creating room for more downside towards yearly means. Looking at the long term price action of the risk on markets we are still overextended, which means we still have a way to go before we really can speak about buying a macro bottom. I do not exclude a bear market for the risk on market extending into 2023, where most of the pain of hawkish Fed will be felt. It will take at least half a year or more before these interest rate hikes and balance sheet reduction will be felt in the real economy, both in price stability, the labor market and in terms of revenue for the big corporations. The traders that can be patient and let the market come towards them and wait for buys at macro lows will be rewarded.