On October 18, BTC is hovering around $81,000–$82,000, about $1,500 above last week’s low of $79,676.
Prices fell this week, but something quietly happened during the same week that’s worth discussing seriously:
Charles Schwab announced that it would allow all eligible retail clients to buy Bitcoin directly. Schwab has 40 million clients.
This isn’t an ETF—it’s direct ownership. Users can buy real BTC in their Schwab accounts, rather than holding it indirectly through a fund.
The significance is the access it provides. ETFs gave institutions a regulated way to allocate to BTC; Schwab’s decision extends that access to individual investors’ brokerage accounts. An ordinary American can buy Bitcoin in the same app they use to manage their retirement savings, without opening an exchange account, learning how to manage private keys, or going through an additional KYC process.
This is the clearest step in years toward lowering the barrier to entry for retail investors, as cryptocurrency adoption has advanced among both institutions and individual investors.
On the price front, the current situation is more resilient than the numbers suggest. BTC ETFs saw cumulative net outflows of $532 million in October, both CPI and PPI came in hotter than expected, and Warsh remained hawkish despite having two hot inflation readings to back him up—all of these are bearish factors. But BTC held after testing the $80,000 support level twice near $79,676, then bounced back to around $82,000.
Polymarket’s current odds for the October 18 price range are 62% for $80,000–$82,000 and 35% for $82,000–$84,000. The market sees sideways consolidation as the most likely scenario right now—not a further decline.
The next nine days are in the Fed blackout period, with no Fed officials scheduled to speak, so the market will have to determine BTC’s direction on its own. The Schwab news is one of the few positive narrative signals during this quiet stretch.
Based on Standard & Poor’s target, BTC at $100,000 by year-end would be about 22% above its current level of $82,000.
What’s your outlook for the next nine days leading up to the October 27 FOMC meeting—bullish or bearish? Share your reasoning.
$BTC
Prices fell this week, but something quietly happened during the same week that’s worth discussing seriously:
Charles Schwab announced that it would allow all eligible retail clients to buy Bitcoin directly. Schwab has 40 million clients.
This isn’t an ETF—it’s direct ownership. Users can buy real BTC in their Schwab accounts, rather than holding it indirectly through a fund.
The significance is the access it provides. ETFs gave institutions a regulated way to allocate to BTC; Schwab’s decision extends that access to individual investors’ brokerage accounts. An ordinary American can buy Bitcoin in the same app they use to manage their retirement savings, without opening an exchange account, learning how to manage private keys, or going through an additional KYC process.
This is the clearest step in years toward lowering the barrier to entry for retail investors, as cryptocurrency adoption has advanced among both institutions and individual investors.
On the price front, the current situation is more resilient than the numbers suggest. BTC ETFs saw cumulative net outflows of $532 million in October, both CPI and PPI came in hotter than expected, and Warsh remained hawkish despite having two hot inflation readings to back him up—all of these are bearish factors. But BTC held after testing the $80,000 support level twice near $79,676, then bounced back to around $82,000.
Polymarket’s current odds for the October 18 price range are 62% for $80,000–$82,000 and 35% for $82,000–$84,000. The market sees sideways consolidation as the most likely scenario right now—not a further decline.
The next nine days are in the Fed blackout period, with no Fed officials scheduled to speak, so the market will have to determine BTC’s direction on its own. The Schwab news is one of the few positive narrative signals during this quiet stretch.
Based on Standard & Poor’s target, BTC at $100,000 by year-end would be about 22% above its current level of $82,000.
What’s your outlook for the next nine days leading up to the October 27 FOMC meeting—bullish or bearish? Share your reasoning.
$BTC
