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Fed rate cut searches hit record highs ahead of major decision

Wed, Sep 17, 2025, 9:51 AM 2 min read

Search interest around the Federal Reserve surged in the United States on Sept. 17, with “Fed rate cut” touching 100 on Google Trends during the final hours before the policy announcement.

Washington, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia ranked among the top sub-regions by interest, while breakout queries included “what time does fed announce rate cut,” “prime rate today,” and “what time is the fed meeting tomorrow.”

Price action didn’t match the hype. Into the decision window, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and XRP traded slightly lower on the day, per Kraken's price feeds.

The Federal Reserve’s policy meeting will start at 2:00 PM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) today.

Under the hood, spot markets showed signs of accumulation rather than stress. As CryptoQuant analyst maartunn observed:

“Two weeks ago, Bitcoin hit a low of around $108,000. Since then, it has bounced back toward $115,000. One key factor in this process is the movement of coins to and from exchanges. At a basic principle: outflows signal buying pressure (coins leaving exchanges), while inflows indicate selling pressure (coins moving onto exchanges). That’s why monitoring these flows is important.”

According to the analyst, Binance has seen consistent outflows for more than a week:

“Over the past nine days, Binance has seen only outflows. This trend appears to be a major driver behind Bitcoin’s recent bounce from $108k to $115k. It’s particularly noteworthy given that the FOMC meeting takes place today. Most analysts expect the Fed to cut rates this week, with prediction markets like Polymarket showing a 92% probability of a rate cut. The steady outflows from Binance may reflect early positioning ahead of this event.”

Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine, told CNBC’s Closing Bell that the Federal Reserve’s next move could set the stage for a broader risk rally with crypto at the center:

“If the Fed moves ahead with expected rate cuts, the Nasdaq-100, particularly the ‘Magnificent Seven’ tech stocks and the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, would stand to gain.”

He added that Bitcoin and Ethereum “could make a monster move in the next three months,” while small-cap stocks and financials could also benefit from lower policy rates.

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Sep 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.