The Federal Reserve delivered its third straight 25 bps rate cut on December 10, confirming the easing path most traders had been waiting for. However, while the decision briefly lifted crypto markets, the mood around Ethereum (ETH) on social media swung from euphoria to frustration within hours as prices reversed sharply. The reversal highlights how quickly retail enthusiasm can turn, especially during macro-driven rallies that often fade once the announcement actually lands.
Fed’s Move Lands as Traders Split Between Optimism and Panic
Ahead of Jerome Powell’s announcement, Polymarket bettors had leaned almost unanimously toward a December cut, reflecting the same confidence seen going into the October meeting. That optimism showed up on crypto X as well, one of the busiest days of Fed-related chatter in months, according to an analysis by sentiment tracker Santiment. But the build-up wasn’t entirely calm. Roughly an hour before Powell spoke, a whale was spotted offloading around $100 million in Bitcoin (BTC), triggering a wave of speculation about whether insiders were bracing for a surprise.
Nevertheless, the decision matched expectations, and the Fed confirmed it would resume purchasing short-term Treasury bills beginning in December to keep bank reserves from falling too low. Options analysts at Greeks.live added more nuance on December 11, noting that the new T-bill program, initially about $40 billion, offers a supportive backdrop but shouldn’t be mistaken for the start of a fresh expansion cycle. With year-end liquidity thinning, they warned that crypto markets tend to remain quiet, and options positioning currently leans defensive, with puts trading at a premium.
Ethereum Sentiment Reverses as Price Slides
Ethereum climbed toward $3,433 during the post-FOMC enthusiasm, but retail traders who chased the move were quickly caught on the wrong side when the price slipped back toward $3,170. Santiment’s sentiment scores revealed that ETH’s positive-to-negative ratio spiked at the top, only to collapse as the pullback took hold.
“What is supposed to be bullish news actually sees a short-term bearish effect due to all of the retail traders buying and larger whales gladly selling off their coins to them on the mini rally that is caused by a U.S. rate cut,” explained Santiment.
Across broader timeframes, ETH performance remains mixed, with the world’s second-largest crypto down around 3% on the day and nearly 10% over the past month, though still slightly higher than last week. Bitcoin was also under similar stress. After briefly touching around $94,000 during the announcement window, price action cooled, with the OG crypto changing hands for just over $90,000 at the time of this writing, which is down about 2% in the last 24 hours and 3% over seven days.
That being said, some analysts think digital assets may rebound as liquidity improves heading into early 2026, and smart-money wallets have accumulated more than 42,000 BTC since late November, suggesting larger investors are positioning themselves early.
“If U.S. inflation continues drifting toward target and economic data remains stable, 2026 could give digital assets the breathing room they’ve been waiting for,” Santiment wrote.