Wintermute: Market expectations have shifted from “rate cuts” to “rate hikes,” weakening Bitcoin’s rebound momentum.

According to Finance Feeds, Wintermute’s latest report states that the global market narrative has rapidly shifted from “when will rates be cut?” to “will rates need to be raised?”, driven by rising inflationary pressures and hotter-than-expected macroeconomic data—leading to a cooling of momentum in the crypto market. Bitcoin retreated after briefly breaking above $83,000, while major altcoins posted double-digit weekly declines. The report notes that this rally was primarily fueled by short squeezes in the perpetual futures market—not underlying spot buying. Concurrently, Bitcoin derivatives open interest rose by $10 billion over the past month to $58 billion, while spot trading volume fell to a two-year low. Although spot ETFs recorded net inflows of $623 million recently and exchange-held Bitcoin reserves dropped to a seven-year low, these factors remain insufficient to offset near-term macro risks.