Bitcoin hovers near $80,000 after sharp selloff

Bitcoin slipped below the $80,000 mark over the weekend, extending a selloff that pushed the cryptocurrency to its lowest level in more than a month. It fell to about $79,146 on Saturday, a level that marked the weekend bottom and the weakest valuation for Bitcoin in over a month. On Monday, Bitcoin was still under pressure but hovered close to the key threshold, trading near $79,947 at one point and around $80,352 later in the day.

The latest move has left Bitcoin fluctuating almost exactly at the $80,000 level, underscoring the market’s struggle to find clear direction. During the session in which it traded near $79,947, Bitcoin was down about 1.02% over 24 hours and carried a market capitalization of roughly $1.61 trillion.

Thin weekend order books made the downturn more severe, amplifying the downward move once Bitcoin broke below $80,000. Within a 24-hour window around the slide, more than $810 million in forced liquidations hit leveraged derivatives positions across digital asset exchanges. Of that total, about $689 million came from long positions held by traders who had been betting on further price gains.

Leveraged long liquidations added selling pressure, with $154 million liquidated across more than 62,000 traders, including roughly $118 million in long positions, indicating that highly leveraged bullish bets were a key source of forced selling as prices declined.

The price weakness in Bitcoin emerged alongside broader caution in financial markets. Brent crude (UKOUSD) climbed to an eight-month high of $116 over the weekend, while the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield reached 5%. Rising energy costs and higher yields have contributed to renewed inflation concerns, weighing on risk appetite across asset classes, including digital assets.

Market participants are focused on the upcoming Federal Reserve policy decision scheduled for October 28. Nischal Shetty said expectations that the Fed will hold interest rates at this meeting have been a potential support for global liquidity, but the uncertainty ahead of the announcement has kept traders cautious. The October 30 options expiry is also on the radar as another potential source of volatility for Bitcoin prices.

Institutional fund activity has been an additional headwind for Bitcoin. U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recently reversed a three-day streak of inflows and posted sizeable withdrawals. The funds saw outflows of about $635.6 million on October 22 and a further $137.9 million on October 23, bringing combined withdrawals over those two days to approximately $773.5 million.

These ETF outflows have contributed to concerns about softer institutional demand for Bitcoin. Mudrex said U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of more than $300 million over the week, suggesting that while recent activity has turned negative, institutional interest had not disappeared. Institutional demand remains weak.

Despite the recent turbulence, some technical levels have emerged around current prices. Bitcoin had steadied near $80,400 after its weekend low around $79,146, with identified support near $78,000. Resistance has been cited close to $81,700, a zone aligned with Bitcoin’s 50-day moving average.

With Bitcoin trading close to these levels and macro events approaching, traders are watching whether the cryptocurrency can hold support or break above resistance as the market digests Fed policy signals, energy prices and evolving institutional participation.