Bitcoin and international equities are facing heavy pressure following U.S. inflation figures released on Wednesday, which sparked renewed worries that the Federal Reserve might increase interest rates during the current month.
As the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, BTC has seen a 1% decline since midnight UTC, according to CoinDesk metrics. Values dropped near the $80,000 threshold during early Asian trading hours prior to a brief recovery toward $81,500, though that upward momentum has since stalled around $81,000, bringing total 24-hour losses to over 2%.
Alternative digital assets including ether, XRP, and solana are experiencing drops ranging between 3.5% and 4%, while PYTH stands out as the solitary top-100 token maintaining gains above 7%.
Traditional financial sectors have similarly shifted toward risk aversion. Nasdaq futures dropped 1% around publication time, building on a prior 2% fall on Wednesday, while South Korea’s KOSPI index plummeted 8%, forcing circuit breakers to activate.
Reports published on Wednesday indicated that consumer prices advanced by 3.7% over the twelve-month period ending in September, accelerating from August’s 3.4% rate and surpassing analyst forecasts. Furthermore, core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, increased by 2.6%, picking up pace from the prior month’s 2.4% figure.
Financial markets rapidly adjusted their expectations regarding potential Federal Reserve actions. On the Polymarket prediction market, the likelihood of an October rate increase climbed close to 50% immediately following the Consumer Price Index publication before moderating to approximately 30%. Similarly, the CME FedWatch instrument tracked a comparable trend, where probabilities initially surged from roughly 22% to nearly 47% before dropping back down to 26% at the time of publication.
Vikram Subburaj, chief executive officer of the India-based cryptocurrency platform Giottus, noted that stronger domestic inflation metrics have reignited anxieties that borrowing costs will remain elevated for an extended duration. He pointed out that annualized September inflation reached 3.7%, amplifying unpredictability surrounding the central bank’s upcoming decision, while institutional interest remains delicate given that U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds experienced $150.5 million in net withdrawals on October 14, erasing the prior day’s $175.7 million inflow.
Liquidity provider STS Digital remarked that this lack of clarity could suppress market-wide liquidity conditions.
Anderson from STS Digital stated in an email communication that with the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting resembling a coin flip, this ambiguity is harming liquidity and dampening risk sentiment across all financial instruments.
Nonetheless, Anderson anticipates that the Federal Reserve will maintain current borrowing costs throughout the month, aligning with the more than 70% probability assigned to a non-action outcome by CME Fed funds futures as of publication.
He concluded that despite recent enthusiasm surrounding digital currencies, tokens are currently demonstrating heightened vulnerability to macroeconomic trends, with energy shocks, fixed-income market volatility, and artificial intelligence valuations all acting as drags on overall market sentiment.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/15/bitcoin-is-back-below-usd81-000-as-fed-rate-uncertainty-weighs.
