Bitcoin and Ethereum fell sharply on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, as traders reduced risk exposure ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting that begins the same day. The selloff erased the brief resilience crypto showed earlier in the week and pulled the total cryptocurrency market cap down by roughly 2.6% to $2.17 trillion.
Bitcoin dropped about 2.7% to near $63,200, while Ethereum slid 4.3% to around $1,880, according to multiple market sources. The moves came as Asian equities, led by South Korea’s Kospi index, suffered a steep decline, reinforcing a risk-off mood across global markets.
The Kospi plunged 10% to its lowest level since mid-April, triggering a 20-minute trading halt. Heavyweight chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix led the losses, and the index has now fallen 25% from its mid-June peak. The selloff in semiconductor names rippled through other risk assets, including cryptocurrencies, which have shown a tendency to track equities during periods of macro and interest-rate stress.
At the center of the week’s uncertainty is the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on July 28–29. The federal funds rate has been held at 3.50%–3.75% since January 2026, and economists polled by FactSet widely expect no change this week. Yet futures markets have repriced the odds of a hike dramatically. The CME FedWatch tool showed a roughly one-in-three chance of a 25-basis-point increase as of July 24, up from about 10.7% just nine days earlier. The probability of a September hike remains near 80%.