Bitcoin Slides Below $81,000 as Hot CPI Revives Fed Hike Bets — SkimNews
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Bitcoin dipped to an intraday low of $80,444 on Thursday, trading at $81,002 — down 2.7% over 24 hours and 2.5% over the past week, per CoinGecko data.
- U.S. consumer prices rose 3.7% year-over-year in September, with a 0.6% monthly jump — the largest monthly increase in five months — driven mainly by energy costs tied to the war with Iran.
- Traders' odds of an October Fed rate hike jumped to 43% from 24% after the CPI report; CME FedWatch put the probability at 29.3% on Thursday, while Polymarket traders priced a December hike at 79%.
- Inflation has now run above the Fed's 2% target for 66 straight monthly readings — the longest streak this century — with Cleveland Fed's Beth Hammack writing that officials are 'starting to accept high inflation as just a fact of life.'
- HashKey's Tim Sun argued the stalled rally stems from slowing marginal demand: spot ETFs and corporate Bitcoin treasuries were the key buyers for two years, but rising borrowing costs have narrowed valuation premiums and chilled new purchases.
- Algoz's Stephen Wundke expects Bitcoin to stay range-bound between $76,000 and $83,000 through October unless a clear catalyst emerges, noting 'as long as BTC stays above $79,500 we can keep the dream alive.'
- The Federal Reserve will announce its next rate decision on October 28; ZIG Finance's Abdul Rafay Gadit said 'the next few weeks are about the Fed, not crypto.'
Why it matters: With October 28 rate decision looming and a 43% market-implied chance of a hike, Bitcoin traders face a binary Fed outcome: a patient signal could revive risk appetite quickly, while continued inflation stickiness — 66 months above target — would keep the $76K–$83K range intact and pressure ETF inflows that have already pulled back.
Ask SkimNews
