Asia Market Open: Crypto and Asian Equities Make Quiet Gains as Fed-Focused Week Kicks Off

Crypto assets traded higher on Monday while Asia’s stock markets inched up, as traders stepped into a week dominated by the US Federal Reserve and a packed central bank calendar.

The mood stayed cautious, but risk assets, from crypto to equities, held their ground as investors lined up behind the prospect of fresh policy easing.

Bitcoin rose about 1.9%, keeping prices close to the $90,000 mark and extending a steady grind higher that has drawn support from rate-cut bets.

For crypto traders, the Fed meeting now looks less like a routine calendar event and more like a possible trigger for the next leg of the cycle.

Akshat Siddhant, lead quant analyst at Mudrex, said that if the Fed proceeds with a rate cut this week, a “Santa rally” becomes increasingly likely, pushing BTC toward the $100,000 mark.

He pointed to around $87,500 as an important support area, a level that still leaves the broader structure for Bitcoin looking constructive even if there is short-term volatility.

Market snapshot

• Bitcoin: $91,256, up 1.9%
• Ether: $3,114, up 2.1%
• XRP: $2.07, up 0.9%
• Total crypto market cap: $3.18 trillion, up 1.3%

Crypto Finds Support While Asian Stocks Log Cautious Early Gains

Across Asia’s equity markets, stocks nudged higher as trading got under way. Japan’s Nikkei slipped about 0.3% after a modest 0.5% gain last week, while South Korea’s Kospi eased 0.3% after jumping 4.4% last week on confirmation of lower US tariffs on its exports.

MSCI’s broad index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped roughly 0.1% in relatively quiet dealings.

Mainland Chinese shares were set to take their cues from November trade figures, with investors watching how exports hold up against tariff headwinds. The data will feed into positioning on Chinese assets into year-end and help shape how much regional support Asian equities can offer to global risk sentiment.

Fed Tension Builds With Futures Flat And Analysts Watching Earnings Signals

US futures provided little directional push at the start of the week. S&P 500 and Nasdaq contracts traded close to flat as investors balanced the coming Fed decision with a fresh round of corporate results.

Earnings from Oracle and Broadcom will give another read on demand for AI-linked infrastructure and chips, while Costco’s numbers will offer a window into consumer spending.

Pricing in interest-rate markets shows how firmly investors lean toward an easing. Futures imply roughly an 85% chance of a quarter-point cut in the current 3.75% to 4% federal funds target range, so a hold would amount to a shock.

Yet the decision may not be straightforward inside the Federal Open Market Committee. Some policymakers have spoken openly against cutting too early, and the Fed has not seen three or more dissents at a single meeting since 2019, something that has occurred only nine times since 1990.

Crypto Watches Dollar Path As Markets Weigh Fed Timing And Political Noise

Market prices are more cautious, attaching about a 24% probability to a January move and not fully factoring in another easing until July. For Bitcoin and other digital assets, that path matters because it shapes the dollar, liquidity and the appeal of hard-cap assets.

US politics also hangs over the debate. Some investors worry that President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on Fed independence could help push rates too low over time, setting the stage for a later inflation problem.

That kind of backdrop often feeds into the narrative that Bitcoin can act as a hedge against long-term currency debasement, even if day-to-day trading still reacts to standard macro data and funding conditions.

The Fed is not the only game in town. Central banks in Canada, Switzerland and Australia also meet this week and are widely expected to hold policy steady. The Swiss National Bank may see reasons to offset a strong franc, but with its policy rate already at 0%, officials remain wary of returning to negative territory.