Bitcoin Rethinks a $90,000 Breakout Despite a US Dollar Nosedive

Bitcoin (BTC) attempted a rebound past $90,000 at Thursday’s Wall Street open as markets awaited US macro cues.

Key points:

• Bitcoin struggles to hold a $90,000 uptick as gold surges and US dollar strength crumbles.

• The Federal Reserve interest-rate decision sees flat moves on stocks.

• Bitcoin traders sit and wait for an inevitable range breakout.

$90,000 proves too much for Bitcoin bulls

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD almost hitting $90,500 before giving up its gains, dipping to $88,800.

US markets opened flat on the day ahead of a new decision on interest-rate changes from the Federal Reserve.

As Cointelegraph reported, expectations were for no adjustments to take place at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The accompanying speech and press conference by Chair Jerome Powell was of more interest.

“Fireworks, that’s what we can expect,” crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe forecast in an X post on Wednesday.

Gold offered a potential taste of things to come, hitting new record highs above $5,300 per ounce during Asia’s trading session.

At the same time, US dollar strength suffered as it appeared that US President Donald Trump was content with using it as a tool to boost US export competitiveness.

“Objectively speaking, the US Dollar just posted its worst year in 8 years. When asked about it for the first time, President Trump could have easily pushed back on the recent decline. In fact, he said the US Dollar is like a ‘yo-yo,’ which he could swing to either direction, acknowledging his ability to reverse its decline,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter commented on the topic. 

“If this is the case, why didn’t President Trump speak in favor of strengthening the US Dollar? Because a weaker US Dollar comes with lower rates, higher US exports, a lower trade deficit, and higher nominal GDP growth. And, most importantly: higher asset prices.”

Geopolitical tensions, now focused around the US army’s maneuvering toward Iran, helped the safe-haven gains.

BTC price “cannot remain stuck in the middle”

Continuing an all too familiar trend, meanwhile, Bitcoin and altcoins failed to capitalize on the feeling of macro uncertainty.

Related: Bitcoin ETF $86K break-even level in focus amid US wirehouse influx reports

Among traders, patience was wearing thin, as consensus favored an eventual breakout from Bitcoin’s narrow trading range.

“At the moment, liquidity is concentrated at the extremes of the range. BTC cannot remain stuck in the middle: sooner or later, it will have to take stops and orders from one of the two sides,” trader EliZ told X followers on the day. 

Trader and analyst Rekt Capital eyed diminishing volatility within the range, but issued a warning to bulls.

“At the end of the day, Bitcoin has simply been consolidating between $86-$93k since November 2025. The first reaction from the Range Low yielded a +13% move. Thus far, this rebound is +4%,” an X post on the day stated.

“If this current rebound falls short of the previous +13% move then that would demonstrate that the Range Low is weakening as support which could precede macro breakdown over time.”

Earlier, Rekt Capital reported a bearish trendline crossover on BTC/USD weekly chart — something that sparked a multimonth ride to bear market bottoms in previous years.