Bitcoin Holds Near $80,000 as Fed Rate Decision Awaited

On Monday, bitcoin was trading around $80,000 after slipping about 2% earlier in the day. It has slipped under that mark repeatedly in recent days, recovering on every occasion.

Pressure to sell has been mounting. Roughly $635 million left spot bitcoin ETFs on October 22. Last week, a temporary slide under $80,000 set off approximately $800 million in forced selling of long positions — bets that prices would advance.

Attention now turns to the Fed's two-day meeting, which runs through October 28. In September the central bank lifted its target range to 3.75% to 4%, and the minutes pointed to the possibility of another rise by the end of the year.

Market bets currently lean toward the Fed holding rates steady, although the pricing has moved around. Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair, is in focus as traders look for any indication of a December rate increase.

Higher rates generally divert capital from riskier holdings, crypto among them. A decision to hold could keep bitcoin within the roughly $80,000 to $88,000 band. A hike, by contrast, could send it toward the lower boundary.

Bitcoin's broader backdrop

Geopolitical strains are adding to the pressure on markets. Crude went past $100 a barrel in early September as U.S.-Iran strikes grew more intense. More costly energy adds to inflation, a factor that moves Fed policy.

Anthropic, meanwhile, is said to be working on an IPO that could give the AI company a valuation close to $965 billion. The listing appears headed for the weeks before the November midterm elections, though it has not been officially scheduled.

U.S. equities ticked up Monday as investors geared up for a heavy week of tech earnings and the Fed's interest-rate call. The Nasdaq was up 0.8%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.6% and the Dow added 0.3%.

Alphabet and Microsoft post quarterly numbers on Wednesday, Amazon does so on Thursday, and the broad market expectation is that the Fed leaves rates unchanged.

AI-linked shares gained ground after Anthropic's IPO filing. Tesla moved 6% higher, while Meta intends to raise up to $95 billion to fund AI.

At the time of writing, bitcoin is changing hands at $80,215, down almost $4,000 on the month, or 4.75%. Over the last month, the trading range has stretched from an $86,806.95 peak to a $79,397.76 trough. After moving above $86,000 in early October, bitcoin slid toward $80,000 in the month's second week.

A short-lived bounce on or about October 21 lifted it near $84,000, yet the advance faded within days. Over the past 24 hours, trading volume came to about $18.12 billion.

The current price is still a long way from its record high of $126,277.05.