Bitcoin Slips Toward $80,000 After Hot US Inflation and an Asian Tech Rout, With Long Positions Hit Hardest
Bitcoin fell about 3.6% in a day to the low $80,000s as spot ETFs saw outflows again, and the key question is whether buyers show up near the $80,000 support level that analysts are watching.
Thursday, October 15, 2026/2 min read
Bitcoin has been testing a line it did not want to cross. After a hotter-than-expected US inflation report and a slump in Asian stocks, the largest cryptocurrency dipped close to $80,000 in early Asian trading on Thursday, bounced to about $81,500 and then stalled near $81,000, CoinDesk reported.
As of 11:50 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, bitcoin was down 3.6 percent over 24 hours at $80,764 and ether had lost 6.5 percent to $2,353, according to The Block. It was the latest leg down in a week we previewed in our report on ETF outflows and the $80,000 level.
Why did bitcoin fall after the CPI report?
September consumer prices rose 3.7 percent from a year earlier, above forecasts, which revived worry that the Federal Reserve will keep raising rates. CoinDesk said chances of an October hike on CME FedWatch jumped from roughly 22 percent to almost 47 percent after the release before easing to about 26 percent. Then South Korea's Kospi plunged about 8 percent on Thursday, which spread the risk-off mood. Dominick John of Zeus Research told The Block that US tech weakness spilled into both Asian equities and crypto.
Spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States recorded $150.5 million of outflows on Wednesday, reversing a $175.7 million inflow the day before, per CoinDesk. Vikram Subburaj, chief executive of the Indian exchange Giottus, pointed to the outflows as a sign of fragile institutional demand.
How big were the liquidations?
Large. CoinGlass data cited by The Block showed $951.4 million of positions liquidated over 24 hours, of which $876.3 million were longs, meaning traders betting on a rise bore the brunt. Rick Maeda, head of markets at Laevitas, said that scale suggests a lot of leverage has already been flushed out, and that the open question is whether spot demand returns or macro pressure keeps weighing. Other major tokens fell too, with Solana down about 4.8 percent and XRP 4.7 percent.
What does $80,000 mean for bitcoin?
On-chain firm Glassnode called $80,000 critical support in an analysis reported by FXStreet, with immediate support between $80,000 and $81,500 and major resistance near $88,000. The average cost basis of US spot ETF holders is about $81,500, and the largest buy-order block on Binance's spot book moved from $81,000 to $80,000. A break below $80,000 could trigger a cluster of liquidations just under that level, with the "true market mean" near $78,000 next, Glassnode said.
US spot bitcoin ETFs took in nearly $3 billion from 21 September to 6 October and have since seen about $760 million of net outflows. Whether that trend reverses may decide if $80,000 holds. The Fed's meeting on 27 and 28 October is the next big macro event on the calendar.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
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