Bitcoin Price Prediction as Dollar Index Reaches 8-Week High Amid Rising Fed Hike Bets

Bitcoin (BTC) is down by 2.7% today, September 24, to trade at $84,061 at the time of writing. This drop comes on the back of a strengthening dollar, with the US dollar index (DXY) surging to an eight-week high.

Bitcoin’s drop below the $85,000 support has pushed the rest of the crypto market down, with Ethereum (ETH) falling to $2,683 while Ripple (XRP) has dropped by 7.5%.

All of the top ten cryptos were also trading in the green at the time of writing, while liquidations across the crypto market came in at $513 million per CoinGlass data.

US Dollar Index Soars on Fed Hike Bets

The US dollar index briefly climbed to 101.231 on September 23, with this being the highest reading since July 29.

The dollar index is now up by 2.5% since the September 9 low of 98.755, with this rise coming on the back of rising odds that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates.

Data from CoinGape prediction markets shows that 65% of traders are betting that the Fed will hike interest rates by 25 basis points at the October 2026 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

If the Fed hikes like the market expects, it will push US interest rates to 4.00%-4.25%. This hike might weaken Bitcoin price because higher rates push people away from risk assets to less risky government bonds.