Bitcoin Steadies Above $83,000 Ahead of U.S. CPI Release

Bitcoin hovered around $83,450 during Wednesday’s European session after briefly testing $84,000. The recovery followed Tuesday’s drop to $80,970, but broader crypto market performance remained mixed as investors waited for U.S. inflation data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate outlook.

The CoinDesk 80 index declined 0.6% since midnight UTC, while the CoinDesk 20 rose 0.2%. Almost two-thirds of the assets tracked by the CoinDesk 100 posted losses. CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index fell to 55 from 60 a week earlier, reflecting weaker momentum across altcoins.

New York Fed President John Williams said interest-rate hikes should not be necessary in 2027, although he left open the possibility of another increase this year.

The upcoming U.S. consumer price index (CPI) report is particularly important because it is the last major inflation release before the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 28 meeting. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect annual inflation to increase to 3.6% from 3.4%, CNBC reported. Fuel prices have also climbed, with AAA placing the average U.S. gasoline price at $4.34 per gallon, compared with $3.08 a year earlier.

Elsewhere, S&P 500 futures gained 0.2%, while Brent crude traded at approximately $106 per barrel.

Crypto derivatives indicate a pullback in leverage

Trading across crypto futures markets slowed over the previous 24 hours. Futures volume fell 26% to $156.79 billion, while aggregate open interest decreased 2.27% to $140 billion. Liquidations plunged by more than 80% to $136.32 million, suggesting that forced closures of leveraged positions had eased.

Short positions maintained a narrow lead, accounting for 52% of taker volume.

Bitcoin open interest declined 3.5%, while Ether’s fell 2.7%. With both cryptocurrencies experiencing largely flat or negative price action, the decline suggests traders are reducing exposure ahead of the inflation announcement.

Zcash (ZEC) bucked the trend as open interest increased more than 4% and its spot price advanced 1%. The difference indicates that new contracts contributed roughly 3% to the open-interest increase beyond the effect of the price move.

ZEC’s open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) remained positive, while annualized perpetual funding rates approached 10%. These readings suggest strong demand for long positions, with bullish traders paying funding costs to maintain their exposure. Canton Network’s CC token showed a comparable pattern.

Over the past 30 days, open interest has contracted in Bitcoin and several major cryptocurrencies but expanded in NEAR and Wormhole. This divergence suggests some speculative traders are reallocating leverage toward altcoins rather than maintaining exposure to larger digital assets.

CVD data showed Bitcoin and TRX recording the strongest readings over the past 24 hours. UNI, SUI and NEAR posted the most negative readings among major tokens. NEAR’s combination of rising open interest and heavy selling could indicate an increase in bearish bets.

Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, reached 40%, moving above its 50-day and 100-day averages. The rise points to increased expectations of price fluctuations. Ether’s implied volatility also edged higher.

In options markets, Bitcoin puts with strike prices of $60,000, $78,000 and $75,000 were among the most actively traded contracts. Ether options activity was concentrated in calls at $3,400 and $2,600, alongside a put at $2,300.

Optimism and DeFi tokens face selling pressure

Optimism (OP) dropped 4.2% after reaching its highest price since mid-May on Tuesday. The earlier advance followed Uniswap’s Unichain completing its testnet migration to OP Enterprise on Oct. 13. The mainnet migration is planned for Oct. 29, with Optimism set to operate production infrastructure, including the sequencer.

Decentralized finance tokens remained among the weaker market segments. The CoinDesk DeFi Index (DFX) lost 1.8%, while Lido (LDO) declined 2.9%, Jito (JTO) fell 2.8%, and Uniswap (UNI) shed 2.5%.

Additional losses affected Starknet (STRK), which dropped 4.5%, Kaia (KAIA), down 3.8%, and Celestia (TIA), which declined 3.7%. TIA had climbed to a 2026 high of around $0.63 on Saturday before reversing lower.

Some tokens continued to advance despite the wider weakness. KITE rose 5.3%, while Pyth (PYTH) gained 4.5%. Venice (VVV), associated with a privacy-focused AI platform, increased 2.4%, and Zcash added 1.7%.