Bitcoin Slips Below USD 80K as ETFs Shed USD 773M

Bitcoin traded near USD 79,947 on 26 October, down about 1 percent over 24 hours after touching USD 79,332, with a market capitalisation near USD 1.61 trillion. The move broke the 50-day moving average for the first time since mid-August, ending a 66-day stretch above a level watched by short-term traders, although the price remains roughly 10 percent above its 200-day average.

Flows did most of the damage. United States spot bitcoin ETFs reversed a three-day inflow streak with USD 635.6 million of net withdrawals on 22 October, the largest single-day figure since June, followed by USD 137.9 million on 23 October, for a combined USD 773.5 million. BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC accounted for USD 471.6 million of the first day. CoinGlass data showed USD 154.23 million of liquidations across crypto in 24 hours, affecting more than 62,000 traders, with long positions at USD 117.99 million against USD 36.23 million of shorts.

Macro is the proximate cause. The Federal Reserve meets on 27 and 28 October with rates expected to stay at 3.75 to 4.00 percent, September personal consumption expenditure inflation data lands on 29 October, and an estimated USD 11 billion of bitcoin options expire on 30 October. Analysts quoted by crypto.news put support at USD 79,000 and then USD 75,000, and a recovery above USD 82,000 would be needed to improve short-term momentum.

The spillover from AI equities is real. Traders describe bitcoin as a risk asset in systematic portfolios, so the same doubts about AI capital spending that hit semiconductor shares also hit crypto, and the correlation has been visible all week. That matters for mining hardware because miner capital spending is financed from cash flow, and hashprice falls faster than electricity contracts can be renegotiated.

Miners respond in a predictable order. First they defer new rig orders, then they curtail the least efficient machines, then they sell equipment into the secondary market. That sequence creates opportunities for buyers with cash: late-generation ASICs with verified hashrate and known operating hours trade at a discount before a price recovery, and the units are worth inspecting for thermal damage rather than trusting a listing.

The same pressure hits the component chain. Mining boards use high-current buck converters, MOSFETs, thermal pads and high-speed fans, all of which are shared with industrial power designs, so a mining slowdown can loosen supply of parts that were tight six months earlier. Buyers who were paying premiums in the third quarter should requote rather than extend.

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