Live updates: Cryptos tumble, with ETH down 5% as Tom Lee confirms buying limit
Traders wagering on higher valuations absorbed the heaviest impact of mandatory liquidations as borrowing costs surged sharply on Wednesday.
‘Le spread’ blowing out after one-day respite
The European Union sovereign debt concerns resurfaced on Wednesday as the yield on the French 10-year OAT spiked by 17.6 basis points to reach 4.924%, whereas the German 10-year Bund yield climbed by a modest 3 basis points to 3.51%.
This movement pushed the OAT/Bund yield differential, commonly referred to as “le spread,” back past 141 basis points, hitting thresholds unseen since the turbulence of 2011.
Once more, that initial crisis impacted the outer edge of the Economic and Monetary Union—specifically the PIGS nations: Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. On this occasion, the situation proves significantly more alarming because the bond sell-off targets a nation situated right at the heart of the currency bloc.
The euro weakened by 0.7% against the greenback on Wednesday, changing hands at $1.1183, which marks its lowest valuation in five months.
BitMine to stop buying ether at 5% hard cap, Tom Lee says
BitMine Immersion Technologies will halt its purchases of ether ETH $2,620.04 once it acquires 5% of the total circulating supply of the asset, according to Chairman Tom Lee during a keynote address at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday.
“That’s a hard cap. We’re not gonna be accumulating past 5%,” Lee stated. “We’re not gonna own more than 5% of Ethereum.”
He mentioned that the organization must acquire another 100,000 ETH to reach this self-imposed maximum threshold.
The price of ether has retreated by 4.5% to $2,477 since midnight UTC. Meanwhile, bitcoin has recorded a 2.2% loss.
The global bond sell-off continues
The international bond market sell-off persists, characterized by rising U.S. Treasury yields across the duration spectrum alongside mounting financial pressure throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. The U.S. 10-year yield sits at 5.333%, while the 30-year yield has attained a fresh peak of 5.715%. Across the UK, the 30-year gilt yield has climbed above 6%, settling at 6.014%.
Renewed strength in the U.S. dollar is compounding these pressures, pushing the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) back above the 102 mark.
Bitcoin has depreciated by over 2% throughout the preceding 24 hours, slipping beneath the $84,000 mark and trading as low as $83,300. Petroleum prices initially spiked following reports of attacks on Iranian tankers, though WTI crude has since surrendered those advances, drifting slightly negative over the past 24 hours to trade below $90 per barrel.
American stock markets also exhibit symptoms of a correction following record-breaking closes for the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 on Tuesday. Invesco QQQ, an exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100, is down just under 1% during premarket activity.
Bitcoin breaks below $84,000 as bullish bets get flushed out
Bitcoin declined as much as 2.4% on Wednesday to approximately $83,600, breaking under $84,000 as roughly $550 million worth of leveraged cryptocurrency wagers were eradicated over a 24-hour window, data from CoinGlass indicates.
These events represent liquidations, which occur when exchanges forcefully close positions because traders utilizing borrowed capital are no longer able to sustain their unrealized losses. The vast majority of these liquidations affected long positions, or speculators banking on upward price momentum.
Ether retreated by nearly 4% to roughly $2,590, XRP experienced an approximate 4% decrease, and SOL declined by in excess of 3%.
Dan Khus, senior analyst at LVRG Research, communicated to Bloomberg that the downturn appears to be “a leverage flush instead of a downward trend.”
This descent drags bitcoin below the $84,000 threshold that FxPro highlighted on Tuesday as the critical line where bears take command. The most recent trough near $83,000 represents the subsequent support test.
Global risk appetite has diminished across asset classes. Fresh Iranian strikes inside the Strait of Hormuz dampened optimism regarding normalization of maritime freight through the corridor, driving Brent crude past $101 per barrel. The 10-year Treasury yield advanced back over 5.3%, and Europe’s Stoxx 600 index terminated a three-day winning streak. U.S. equity index futures remained relatively flat after the S&P 500 finished at an all-time high.
The release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting is scheduled for later on Wednesday. Rachael Lucas, an analyst representing BTC Markets, informed Bloomberg that a restrictive monetary outlook could propel yields and the greenback upward, thereby maintaining downward pressure on risk-sensitive assets.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/07/live-updates-bitcoin-slides-under-usd84-000-as-usd550-million-in-bets-get-liquidated.
