Bitcoin below $80,000: tech stocks and a hawkish Fed drag crypto lower

Bitcoin fell below $80,000 on Thursday. CoinDesk links the drop to jitters in tech stocks, led by Samsung, and to a hawkish Fed hold. [1] Tech shares fell after disappointing earnings, and CoinDesk ties the fall in crypto to that tech selloff. [1]

What happened on 29 October

Bitcoin slipped below $80,000 during the Asian session, after reversing a two-day rebound. It fell from above $81,700 to around $79,800. [1] In a second CoinDesk report that day, the low was $79,600 and the price about $80,100, down 1.4% since midnight UTC. [2] Ether fell 1.7% in the same update, and AI-linked tokens were among the hardest hit. [2] Ether, XRP, Solana and other tokens also fell in the first report. [1]

Leveraged traders paid the price. Crypto futures lost $356 million over 24 hours, and $205 million of that came from long positions, meaning bets that prices would rise. [1] Bitcoin futures accounted for $94 million and ether futures for $72 million. [1] The second CoinDesk report put the total at $337.4 million, so the figures differ between the two reports. [2]

Why tech stocks set the tone

Alphabet reported third-quarter revenue of $127.58 billion, below the $127.93 billion analysts expected. [1] Its shares fell about 10% in premarket trading. [1] Google Cloud was the exception, bringing in $30.71 billion against a $29.10 billion forecast. [1]

Samsung's chip division posted operating profit of 106.5 trillion won, just short of the 108.5 trillion won analysts expected. [1] The two CoinDesk reports give different sizes for the share fall: more than 5% in one, and 4% in the other. [1] [2] South Korea's Kospi index also fell, by more than 2% in one report and 1.2% in the other. [1] [2]

AI-linked tokens fell in the same update that reported Alphabet's premarket drop. NEAR dropped 7.8% and Bittensor (TAO) fell 3.1%. [2]

The Fed held, but two officials wanted a hike

The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4%. It held rates on Wednesday, as expected. [2] CoinDesk calls the decision a "hawkish hold". [1] Chair Kevin Warsh said progress is being made on inflation, but price pressures remain too high. [1]

Two officials dissented in favour of a quarter-point increase, and Warsh did not signal what might come in December. [2] ING still expects another rate rise in December, following a hike in September. [1]

That matters for crypto. CoinDesk argues that a hawkish tone could keep real yields elevated and limit the money flowing into speculative assets such as bitcoin. [1]

What comes next

The September PCE report, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, was due later on Thursday. [2]

Some demand was still present. US spot bitcoin ETFs took in $137 million on Wednesday, their third straight day of inflows, which added up to $423.7 million over those three days. [2] Funding rates for bitcoin and ether stayed positive but had declined, which suggests the bullish tilt was fading. [2]