Ki Young Ju, CEO of the blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, believes the crypto market is still “in the middle of the bull cycle.”

According to Young Ju’s X post, self-custodial Bitcoin (BTC) wallets have been accumulating over the past week. He added that long-term holder whale addresses are showing increased interest.

Following the increased accumulation, BTC rose by 3.35% in the past 24 hours and is trading at $60,450 at the time of writing. On Sept. 17, the flagship cryptocurrency reached a local high of $61,316 with its market cap surpassing the $1.2 trillion mark.

The global crypto market cap also surged by 0.7% over the past day, reaching $2.17 trillion, according to data from CoinGecko. Most of the leading altcoins recorded bullish momentum with Nervos Network (CKB) emerging as the top gainer with a 17% price surge. 

Moreover, the market-wide positive sentiment comes ahead of the expectations of the U.S. Fed rate cut, which is scheduled for today. The probability of a 50 basis point rate cut increased last week as the U.S. Consumer Price Index report showed declining inflation. 

Per a Coin Insider Daily report, the CPI for August came at 2.5% while the expected rate was 2.6%. 

This will be the first Fed rate cut since March 2020 which many analysts believe could trigger bullish momentum for financial markets, including cryptocurrencies.

Data from the market prediction platform Polymarket shows that there is a 53% chance of a 50 basis point rate cut and a 46% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut.