How Ethereum reacted to the Personal Consumption Expenditures on 24 November 2021

The release

Released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on 24 November 2021 at 8:30 AM EST. The Personal Consumption Expenditures came in at 0.6% for October 2021, against 0.3% in September 2021. Prices are rising faster than before.

It arrived at the same moment as Durable Goods Orders, Durable Goods Orders Excluding Transportation, Gross Domestic Product Report, Personal Income and Outlays, Core Personal Consumption Expenditures, Initial Jobless Claims and Continued Jobless Claims, so the reaction measured on this page belongs to all of them together.

How Ethereum moved

Ethereum was at $4,293.44 when the figure came out. Fifteen minutes later it was 0.68% lower, and an hour later 2.1% lower. Its high-to-low range in the hour after was 2.97% of its price, against 1.07% in the hour before.

Measured by Clometrix

Ethereum's volatility ratio was 1.80x, against 1.77x for a typical PCE release since 2021. Its volume ratio was 0.94x, against a typical 2.11x. That is about what this release usually does. Both compare the quarter hour of the release with an ordinary quarter hour that same day, where 1.00x is no change: volatility is how far the price ranged, volume how much traded.

What made it matter

Since 2021, PCE releases in the two weeks before a Fed decision have moved Ethereum about as much as those at other times: a median volatility ratio of 1.86x across 18, against 1.72x across 52. This one was not within two weeks of a Fed decision. Its own ratio of 1.80x compares with 1.72x for those, about what its circumstances would suggest.

Its record

Across 70 PCE releases since 2021, Ethereum's median volatility ratio is 1.79x.

What it means

Ethereum posted an ordinary reaction to the November 2021 PCE release. The 1.80x volatility ratio matched the median recorded across all 69 PCE prints since 2021. Price fell 0.68 percent in the first fifteen minutes and 2.1 percent within the hour, while the high-to-low range reached 2.97 percent of spot. Volume remained subdued at 0.94x, well below the 2.15x typical for the event.

The print itself showed faster price growth, with headline PCE rising 0.6 percent month-over-month after 0.3 percent in September. It arrived together with GDP, durable-goods orders, personal income and both initial and continued claims, so the measured response reflects the combined release cluster rather than PCE alone. The timing, twenty days before the December FOMC decision, placed the event outside the two-week window that has historically produced a marginally higher median volatility ratio of 1.86x.

Clometrix therefore classifies the move as ordinary for PCE. The 1.80x volatility ratio aligned closely with the 1.77x median observed for releases at comparable distances from policy meetings. Traders watching the next PCE report may note that the event continues to generate its characteristic volatility response regardless of proximity to Federal Reserve decisions.

What is the Personal Consumption Expenditures?

Every PCE release for Ethereum