Bitcoin Breakout Cools as Fed Rate-Hike Bets Climb — SkimNews
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- Bitcoin trades near $84,490, down from Monday's $87,397 high, as CME FedWatch puts October rate-hike odds at roughly 75% and December odds near 59%
- Fed Governor Michael Barr said Wednesday further policy adjustments are likely needed to bring inflation back to target, with core PCE at 3.4% — well above the 2% goal — data that flipped the post-meeting one-and-done narrative
- Spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $998.9 million on Monday, their biggest single-day haul in 11 months, and net 2026 flows turned positive for the first time this year at roughly $320 million
- Crypto liquidations hit $348.33 million over 24 hours, with $270.89 million hitting longs after last week's short squeeze left leveraged bulls exposed to the reversal
- BNB and Solana are the only top-10 cryptocurrencies posting 24-hour gains, up 2.75% and 2.31% respectively, while Ethereum, XRP, Zcash and Hyperliquid cool off
- The September 16 rate hike passed 12-0, bringing the target range to 3.75%-4%, but Chair Kevin Warsh's dot plot projecting a median 4.1% through 2027 was initially read as dovish before this week's inflation data reversed that view
- Total crypto market capitalization sits at $2.93 trillion, down roughly 2.5% from the $3 trillion level touched last week; the Crypto Fear and Greed Index reads 73, still in greed territory
Why it matters: Leveraged longs absorbed $270.89 million of $348.33 million in 24-hour liquidations after last week's short squeeze left them exposed, while spot Bitcoin ETFs simultaneously pulled a record $998.9 million in one day — the split shows retail leverage and institutional flows diverging sharply ahead of the October 28 Fed decision.
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