Bitcoin’s Bull Index drops to 30 after Fed’s rate hike

One week. That’s all it took for Bitcoin’s most-watched sentiment indicator to swing from confidently bullish to firmly bearish. CryptoQuant’s Bull Score Index cratered from 80 to 30 after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points on September 16, bringing the target range to 3.75%-4.00%. It was the Fed’s first rate hike since 2023, and the crypto market’s reaction was about as warm as you’d expect when cheap money gets more expensive again. What the Bull Score Index is actually telling us CryptoQuant’s Bull Score Index aggregates multiple on-chain and market signals to gauge the overall health of Bitcoin’s trend. Readings above 60 indicate bullish conditions, while anything below 40 signals bearish sentiment. The timing is striking. In late August, the index had surged toward 80 as Bitcoin pushed above $80,000, riding a wave of optimism that the macro environment would remain accommodative. That optimism evaporated the moment the Fed signaled it was willing to tighten again. Bitcoin is currently trading around $76,000, having shed roughly 4% over the past week. Intraday moves have been modest, ranging between -0.4% and -1%, but the broader direction is clearly d...