Bitcoin Holds Steady as US Strikes on Iran Rattle Stocks and Lift Oil — SkimNews
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- Bitcoin traded around $78,623 on Monday, down just 0.7% over 24 hours after dipping to an intraday low near $77,162, and is on track to close August with a gain of more than 24% — its strongest month since 2017.
- West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 2.6% to about $85.60 a barrel after the first US-Iran exchange of strikes since late July revived shipping fears through the Strait of Hormuz, with the S&P 500 off 0.5% near 7,673 and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.4% near 26,289.
- Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivered hawkish remarks at Jackson Hole that pushed September rate-hike odds to roughly 58% from about 35% before he spoke, and gold slipped to near $4,440 as the firmer rate outlook outweighed its safe-haven appeal.
- Bitcoin spot ETFs snapped a nine-day inflow streak even as Ethereum funds kept drawing cash, with Ethereum trading near $2,448 on Monday but heading into month-end with a gain approaching 30%.
- Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev pointed to derivatives data showing 24-hour Bitcoin volume more than doubling to $183 billion while open interest stayed roughly flat, framing that as traders repositioning rather than committing fresh capital.
- Attention now turns to Friday's US jobs report and the August CPI reading due September 11 as the next catalysts for crypto and broader risk assets.
Why it matters: The derivatives signal is the key second-order read: BTC volume doubled to $183B while open interest stayed flat, which Kalchev says means the $78K hold isn't backed by fresh leveraged conviction — so the stalemate between the Iran escalation and a hawkish Fed repricing (35% to 58% rate-hike odds) leaves the level especially sensitive to Friday's jobs report.
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