October got off to a bullish start—#bitcoin briefly touching $87,000 in the first few days—but the momentum quickly faded. Since then, the leading cryptocurrency has traded in a narrow range of $81,000 to $83,000, with a brief dip below $80,000 at the end of the month. Ethereum, meanwhile, has fallen below $2,400 and is flirting with $2,300, while Solana is holding on to the $100 level.
The immediate explanation is macroeconomic. September inflation data in the United States came in hotter than expected—the producer price index posted its largest monthly jump since March 2022—and markets began pricing in a nearly 80% chance that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December rather than cut them. With the 10-year Treasury yield above 5.1%, the cheap money that fueled the major rallies of previous years simply isn't available.
This was compounded by a technical factor: selling pressure from specific market participants. In early October, the U.S. government transferred bitcoins worth more than $1.54 billion to exchanges, and a well-known miner liquidated a significant position in #WBT amid the decline, amplifying the downward move.
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