Bitcoin fell 1.4% from midnight UTC to around $80,100 on Thursday, as disappointing earnings from Samsung and Alphabet dragged down technology stocks. Investors are also awaiting the release of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure later in the day.
Bitcoin (BTC) slipped to approximately $80,100 after briefly dropping to $79,600 before recovering some ground. The broader altcoin market suffered larger losses, with Ether (ETH) declining 1.7% and the CoinDesk Memecoin Index falling 3.4%.
South Korea’s Kospi led the regional sell-off, losing 1.2% as Samsung Electronics shares dropped 4%. The decline came despite the company reporting record quarterly profits, as investors reacted negatively to its shareholder return plans. Nasdaq-100 futures also fell 1.1% after Alphabet delivered earnings that missed analysts’ expectations.
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, in line with market forecasts. However, two policymakers dissented, supporting a quarter-point rate increase. Chair Kevin Warsh also refrained from indicating what the central bank might do in December. September’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation report, which the Fed uses to assess price pressures, is due later Thursday.
Meanwhile, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $137 million in net inflows on Wednesday, extending their positive streak to three consecutive trading sessions. Data from Farside Investors showed that total inflows during the period reached $423.7 million.
Crypto Derivatives: Futures Activity Rises as Positions Unwind
Cryptocurrency futures trading volume increased 21.8% to $198.8 billion over 24 hours, while aggregate open interest fell 1.9%. The combination suggests that traders were actively closing positions amid heightened market activity. Liquidations surged 84% to $337.4 million. Taker activity was nearly balanced, with long-side volume accounting for 50.1% and short-side volume making up 49.9%.
Bitcoin declined 1.6%, while its futures open interest decreased 1.2%, indicating that market exposure contracted roughly in line with the price drop. Ether lost 2.1%, but its open interest slipped just 0.7%. Funding rates remained positive for both assets, although they declined from the previous day, suggesting that bullish positioning in perpetual futures was weakening.
Ether liquidations totaled $71.6 million, almost matching Bitcoin’s $72.5 million despite ETH having roughly half as much open interest.
BNB attracted additional futures exposure despite falling prices. Its open interest climbed 1.7% while the token declined 0.8%, and trading volume jumped 70%. Its funding rate turned negative, reaching the lowest level among major cryptocurrencies. Negative funding means short traders pay long traders, indicating that perpetual futures participants were increasingly positioning for further declines. SUI displayed a similar but less pronounced trend.
ZEC experienced a substantial reduction in futures exposure. Its open interest dropped 12% as the token’s price fell 5.4%, reversing part of Wednesday’s increase. Open interest had risen 13.9% during a 6.3% price rally in the previous session. Funding remained positive, however, suggesting that long traders were still paying short traders.
Funding rates across most major cryptocurrencies remained above zero but declined over the previous 24 hours. This indicates that the cost of maintaining long positions has eased, reflecting a weaker bullish bias. BNB recorded the most negative funding rate, while Monero (XMR) had the strongest positive reading.
Open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) also turned negative for nearly every major cryptocurrency. The metric indicates that aggressive selling exceeded buying relative to open interest, reversing the broadly positive trend seen the previous day. NEAR showed the sharpest negative movement, including a pronounced decline around midday.
The perpetual futures contract linked to Alphabet shares, GOOGL, recorded a 77% increase in open interest as its price fell 10%. Trading volume rose to almost five times its previous level.
Bitcoin and Ether Options Show Different Positioning
On Deribit, four of the six most actively traded Bitcoin options over the past 24 hours were calls with strike prices above the current spot price. The $82,500 call expiring October 30 led trading activity. Despite this demand, options skew continued to show interest in downside protection across different expiration periods.
Ether options reflected a more defensive outlook. Five of the six most-traded contracts were puts, with strike prices ranging from $2,280 to $1,500. The only call among the six was the $3,200 contract expiring in December. ETH puts continued to command higher prices than calls, signaling persistent concerns about further losses.
AI and DeFi Tokens Lead the Crypto Market Decline
Artificial intelligence-related cryptocurrencies faced some of the steepest losses as technology stocks weakened. NEAR, which focuses on blockchain applications related to AI, dropped 7.8%, while Bittensor (TAO), a decentralized AI network, declined 3.1%. The losses coincided with a roughly 10% premarket decline in Alphabet shares following its disappointing earnings report.
DeFi tokens also underperformed the wider cryptocurrency market. Raydium (RAY) fell 8.9%, Jito (JTO) lost 6.8%, and Ethena (ENA) declined 6%.
JasmyCoin (JASMY), a Japan-based token associated with data and Internet of Things technology, plunged 10%, recording the largest decline among assets in the CoinDesk 100. Dash (DASH) and Pump.fun (PUMP) each shed around 6%.
Tron (TRX) was among the few major tokens to post a gain, advancing 0.5% since midnight UTC.
CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index fell to 54 out of 100 from 60 on Wednesday, pointing to weakening altcoin performance relative to the broader cryptocurrency market.
