Bitcoin Drops Below $80,000 Ahead of Fed Rate Decision — SkimNews
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- Bitcoin slipped as low as $79,332 before recovering to $80,240, leaving it down 2.5% over the past week and roughly 36% below its $126,080 record high, according to CoinGecko data.
- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs absorbed $635.5 million in net outflows on Thursday and another $137.9 million on Friday, per SoSoValue — yet the funds still ended the week up about $301 million, snapping a two-week losing streak, and remain down roughly $314 million for October.
- Tim Sun of HashKey said the drop was "primarily driven by a broader correction in global risk assets," with investor skepticism toward elevated AI-stock valuations a major factor, while ETF outflows and the unwinding of leveraged positions amplified the downward pressure.
- Daniela Hathorn of Capital.com tied Bitcoin's pressure to persistent inflation, elevated Treasury yields and expectations of further Federal Reserve tightening, which she said reduced enthusiasm for speculative assets.
- Stephen Wundke of Algoz called the $80,000 break potentially misleading given low weekend trading volumes, and pointed to a broader drop in trading as investors pull out of altcoins and park funds in stablecoins; he identified $82,000 — the level from which August and September rallies launched — as the mark needed to support the bull case.
- Federal Reserve's Wednesday rate decision, following the November 3 U.S. midterms, and major technology earnings could prove just as important for Bitcoin as crypto-market developments themselves, Hathorn said, adding that a hawkish Fed could strengthen the dollar and weigh on risk assets.
Why it matters: Spot Bitcoin ETF investors were still up about $301 million on the week despite roughly $773 million of Thursday-Friday outflows, so the risk-off framing hides a market that absorbed heavy redemptions. Into Wednesday's Fed decision, the level that matters is $82,000, where Algoz's Wundke says the bull case needs to hold.
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