Ether Jumps More Than 4% After Softer US CPI as Futures Buying Surges

Ether jumped more than 4% after a softer-than-expected US consumer price index report, with heavy buying in the derivatives market helping drive the rally.

CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost wrote on July 15 that, before the CPI release, markets had priced in about a 46.5% chance of a rate increase at the Federal Open Market Committee's July 29 meeting. But the CPI fell 0.4% from the previous month and core CPI was unchanged, both well below market expectations.

The weaker-than-expected inflation data effectively wiped out the odds of a rate hike at the next FOMC meeting, prompting traders to quickly build long positions in Ether futures, he wrote.

In the first hour after the CPI release, Binance alone saw about $1.2 billion in taker buy volume. Over the same period, Deribit recorded $15 million of speculative buying and OKX saw $23.6 million.

Darkfost wrote that traders were responding quickly to new headlines and actively using volatility. Still, he added that the move was highly speculative and did not amount to a firm foundation for a sustained uptrend.