Cryptocurrency markets have been on the rise since the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a 75-basis point rate hike on Wednesday.

The price of Bitcoin – the world’s largest cryptocurrency – rose around 8% to the mid $22,500 level as the decision to hike rates again was unveiled by the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC). The price of other cryptocurrencies also surged, with Ether, Polkadot and Polygon all recording double-digit gains over the last 24 hours.

Investors were expecting worse, according to the CEO of Quantum Economics, Mati Greenspan who told Cointelegraph: “Markets love going up on Fed days, even when their decision is to be tough. Powell is particularly skilled at delivering bad news. Clearly investors were expecting worse.”

That said, opinions are mixed amongst the crypto community as to whether there is sufficient momentum to sustain the upward trajectory, or whether a retracement could be looming before the market makes a full recovery.

Australian crypto exchange Swyftx analyst, Pav Hundal said the firm was “surprised at the exuberance of the reaction to yesterday’s rate hike.” He added: “The Fed is saying one thing and the markets seem to be hearing something else every time we see rate rises. In June, it was the Fed suggesting large rate hikes would be ‘uncommon,’ this time around its Jay Powell hinting that the pace of increase might ‘slow’.

“The best gauge of what’s to come is the underlying economic data and for now at least, it does look like some inflationary pressures are easing, with gas prices falling alongside futures prices for staples like corn and wheat, as well as some shipping costs,” he added.

The analyst went on to say that a wider bullish or bearish trend will likely not be clear until the United States publishes GDP data over the next few days: “The good news is we’re not going to have to wait too long to see what happens to the crypto market when any initial volatility washes out. The U.S. is about to release its GDP data and that’s going to be a big stress test. Any negative sentiment here could wipe out recent gains.

“But if the macro landscape starts to show signs of resilience, we could see the crypto market cap stabilize at the $1 trillion USD point and rally from there,” he added.