Bitcoin fails to break through $77k! Fear & Greed Index drops to 28, 75,000 traders liquidated for $220 million, Fed hawkish shadow looms

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On the morning of May 22, 2026, Bitcoin drifted lower in the $77,000 range, down 0.73% over 24 hours and nearly 6% off its May 11 high of $82,145. Ethereum followed the weakness, trading at $2,129, while SOL saw a slight gain. Total liquidations across the network reached $222 million in 24 hours, with a "double-kill" pattern for both longs and shorts indicating a lack of market direction. The Fear & Greed Index slid to 28 (Fear), dropping rapidly from 43 within a week, as the hawkish tone of the April FOMC minutes and hotter-than-expected CPI data continued to suppress risk sentiment. (Previous coverage: Fed keeps interest rates unchanged! FOMC statement cites "surging energy prices and Middle East crisis," with 4 Fed officials dissenting against a "dovish tilt.") (Background: Major news! The U.S. Clarity Act has successfully passed the Senate Banking Committee and will move to a full floor vote.) Bitcoin has been losing ground since its local high of $82,145 on May 11, briefly dipping to $76,201 on May 19—its deepest wound in nearly two weeks. As of 9:00 AM Taipei time this morning (May 22), BTC was trading at $77,371, down 0.73% in 24 hours. The intraday range was trapped between $78,200 and $76,719, a narrow spread of less than $1,500; it neither falls deep nor climbs, a typical "stalled" market. Ethereum is equally listless, trading at $2,129 (-0.66%), still far from its May 11 high of $2,373, oscillating between $2,105 and $2,157 over the past 24 hours. Over the past 24 hours, total contract liquidations across the network reached $222,255,214, with the largest single liquidation at approximately $624,000. The time distribution tells a more interesting story: the 12-hour window was dominated by short liquidations—$73.76 million in shorts were squeezed, while $53.62 million in longs were liquidated, suggesting a brief short squeeze occurred intraday. However, entering the last 4 hours and 1 hour, the situation flipped, with long positions becoming the primary victims ($2.44 million in long liquidations vs. $1.13 million in shorts over the last hour). The "double-kill" and directionless consolidation are evident; there is no one-way capitulation, only continuous attrition. There are two direct catalysts suppressing the market this week: First, the U.S. April CPI rose 3.8% year-on-year, higher than the market expectation of 3.7%; the month-on-month increase of 0.6% significantly exceeded the expected 0.3%, with inflation data showing signs of reigniting. The market now highly expects the Fed to keep interest rates frozen at 350–375 basis points at the June 17 meeting, with some not ruling out the possibility of no rate cuts at all this year. Second, the April FOMC meeting minutes released by the Fed on May 21 were hawkish: the minutes showed that many officials believe that the rebound in inflation may force interest rates to remain frozen for longer, and some members even did not rule out the possibility of restarting rate hikes—this is the most obvious catalyst for the decline in risk asset sentiment within 24 hours. Additionally, Kevin Warsh, who took over as Fed Chair on May 15 replacing Powell, is still being watched by the market regarding his policy path. The uncertainty, compounded by the hawkish minutes, has further fueled risk-off sentiment. U.S. stocks closed lower on May 21: S&P 500 fell 0.45%, Nasdaq fell 0.50%, and the Dow fell 0.48%. Rising oil prices and U.S. Treasury yields, along with geopolitical tensions in Iran, have suppressed overall risk appetite. SOL traded at $86.74 this morning, up 0.27% in 24 hours, making it the only one of the top four coins to close in the green—but it is still nearly 12% away from its May 12 high of $98.10. The rebound strength is quite limited, looking more like a brief respite

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