Bitcoin hovered near the $100,000 mark Thursday, buoyed by dovish signals from the Federal Reserve and renewed optimism over U.S. trade policy. Altcoins outperformed, with Dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano’s ADA climbing 5% and 4%, respectively. Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Solana (SOL), and BNB posted 2%–3% gains, lifting the CoinDesk 20 Index by 2.2%.

Driving the rally was a late-Wednesday announcement from Donald Trump, who teased a “big” new trade agreement with a “highly respected country”—widely reported to be the U.K.—with more deals expected to follow. Markets interpreted it as a sign of easing global trade tensions.

Meanwhile, the Fed left rates unchanged as expected but left the door open to cuts later this year. Traders are now pricing in a 55% chance of a July cut and expecting up to 100 basis points of easing by year-end, according to CME data.

“Bitcoin is pushing back toward $100K as monetary policy shifts into focus again,” said Semir Gabeljic of Pythagoras Investments. “Rate cut speculation is back on the table.”

Still, not all outlooks are rosy. Analysts at CF Benchmarks warned that the Fed may be cornered between resurgent inflation—partly driven by tariffs—and a weakening labor market.

“If the Fed waits too long, the risk of stagflation increases,” said research head Gabe Selby. “That could be damaging across the board.”

Despite the uncertainty, Bitcoin is drawing record capital inflows. Spot ETFs, including BlackRock’s IBIT, are seeing surging interest—$4.3 billion over the past month alone.

“This isn’t just a bounce,” said Jupiter Zheng of HashKey Capital. “Bitcoin is emerging as a structural hedge in portfolios built for volatile times.”