Is This Crypto Rally A Bull Trap?

Crypto prices are showing surprising bullish strength, with meme coins leading the charge, despite Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments post-FOMC.
The Bitcoin price, which slipped below $116,000 after Powell’s speech, has since bounced back up to $118,000 at press time. Similarly, Ethereum continues to trade above the $3,800 mark, despite falling below the key $3700 support level late on Wednesday.
Meme coin prices are seeing a broad-based rally on Thursday. The Pump.fun coin is up by 24% over the past 24 hours, while Bonk, Floki and Brett have recorded strong gains as well.
However, they remain below key resistance levels, which has raised concerns about a potential bull trap.
FOMC Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged, But Powell Adopts A Hawkish Stance
Wednesday’s FOMC meeting was in line with the market expectations as the central bank kept its Federal target rate unchanged for the 5th time in a row.
Governor Christopher Waller and Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman voted against the consensus decision, wanting a quarter percentage point rate cut instead. Interestingly, this is the first time since 1993 when two governors have dissented against the consensus FOMC decision.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell adopted a hawkish stance in his post-FOMC comments, claiming that inflation in the economy remained “somewhat elevated” and that Trump’s tariffs are pushing prices up in some goods. Moreover, he refused to give any hints regarding the September FOMC.
Following Powell’s comments, the CME FedWatch is no longer pricing in an interest rate cut in September.
The odds of the Federal Reserve not cutting interest rates even once this year have surged to 25% on the market prediction platform, Kalshi. This would be a decided bearish scenario for the crypto market.
Meme Coin Prices Surge, But Is It A Bull Trap?
Meme coin prices are seeing a strong bounce.
The $PUMP coin is up by 24% over the past day, posting the largest gains of any top 100 cryptocurrency over that period.
The top Base meme coin, Brett (BRETT), has also surged by 14% on Thursday.
However, most meme coins continue to trade below key resistance levels. Take, for instance, Bonk. The popular Solana meme coin price is up by 3% over the past 24 hours. However, it continues to trade between the $0.0000335 resistance level. Moreover, its Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD 12, 26) has flashed a bear cross.

Given the current broader market uncertainty, traders should likely stay away from using high leverage. However, spot buyers can comfortably continue to hold their positions as the crypto market continues to be in a bull run.
Crypto Presale In High Demand Despite Market Uncertainty
Owing to the broader market uncertainty, smart money investors are buying presale cryptos. Considering presale coins are offered at a fixed price, they aren’t affected by short-term uncertainty.
For instance, Snorter (SNORT) has raised nearly $2.5 million in its viral ICO. It is the native token of the Snorter Bot, a Telegram-based tool that helps users snipe newly launched tokens before the masses catch on.
It gives traders an edge in the fast-moving meme coin space. Besides, it enables automated copy trading, protection against rug pulls and MEV scams, as well as copy trading from top crypto traders.
SNORT is used to access premium features on the bot, particularly just a 0.85% trading fee, the lowest of all prominent sniper bots.
With retail traders looking for tools to match whale-level speed and automation, Snorter has found early traction. Its low market cap and growing buzz around the bot are helping drive strong demand in its presale, with many already calling it the next 100x crypto.
This article has been provided by one of our commercial partners and does not reflect Cryptonomist’s opinion. Please be aware that our commercial partners may use affiliate programs to generate revenue through the links in this article.