BTC Hits $80K as Tech Stock Weakness Deepens Sell-Off in AI Tokens

Bitcoin fell 1.4% to nearly $80,100 on Thursday after touching an intraday low of $79,600, as losses in technology stocks and disappointing Alphabet earnings pressured risk-sensitive assets. Traders also weighed the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain interest rates while preparing for fresh U.S. inflation data.

Ether (ETH) dropped 1.7%, and the CoinDesk Memecoin Index declined 3.4%, signaling continued weakness across the digital asset market.

Asian stock markets mirrored the cautious mood. South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.2%, while Samsung Electronics shares slid 4% despite the company reporting record quarterly profits. Investor disappointment over shareholder returns appeared to overshadow the earnings milestone. Nasdaq-100 futures fell 1.1% after Alphabet’s results failed to meet expectations.

The Federal Reserve held rates steady on Wednesday. However, two officials dissented in favor of a 25-basis-point hike, highlighting differences over the appropriate policy direction. Chair Kevin Warsh offered no clear signal about a possible December move. Investors are now looking to September’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report for additional clues about inflation and the Fed’s next steps.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $137 million in net inflows on Wednesday, extending their positive streak to three consecutive sessions. Total inflows across those three days reached $423.7 million.

Futures Trading Rises as Crypto Traders Reduce Exposure

Crypto derivatives activity increased over the past 24 hours, with futures trading volume climbing 21.8% to $198.8 billion. Despite the higher turnover, aggregate open interest fell 1.9%, suggesting some market participants were closing positions. Liquidations surged 84% to $337.4 million.

Taker volume remained almost evenly distributed, with buy-side activity at 50.1% and sell-side activity at 49.9%.

Bitcoin dropped 1.6%, while its open interest contracted 1.2%. Ether declined 2.1%, accompanied by a 0.7% reduction in open interest. Funding rates for both cryptocurrencies stayed positive but eased from the previous day, pointing to weaker bullish conviction.

Ether liquidations reached $71.6 million, close to Bitcoin’s $72.5 million, even though ETH open interest was approximately half the size of BTC’s.

BNB futures showed a different dynamic. Open interest increased 1.7% as the token’s price slipped 0.8%, while trading volume rose 70%. BNB also posted the most negative funding rate among major cryptocurrencies, indicating that short traders were paying long traders to keep positions open. SUI displayed a similar, though less pronounced, pattern.

ZEC open interest dropped 12% as its price declined 5.4%. The move followed a previous session in which open interest had risen 13.9% alongside a 6.3% price gain. Funding for ZEC remained positive despite the latest retreat.

Across most major cryptocurrencies, funding rates remained above zero but weakened compared with the previous session. BNB recorded the lowest rate, while XMR had the highest.

Open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) was negative for nearly all major tokens, indicating that aggressive selling was dominating buying activity. NEAR experienced a particularly sharp deterioration around midday.

Among equity-linked perpetual contracts, GOOGL open interest surged 77% while its price fell 10%. Trading volume also climbed to nearly five times its earlier level.

Bitcoin Options Retain Call Interest, While Ether Traders Seek Protection

Deribit data showed that calls dominated four of Bitcoin’s six most-traded options contracts, with the relevant strike prices above spot. The October 30 contract with an $82,500 strike was the most active.

However, the wider options skew continued to point to demand for downside protection, suggesting that traders remained cautious despite activity in calls targeting higher prices.

Ether options displayed a more bearish tilt. Five of the six most-traded contracts were puts, carrying strike prices between $2,280 and $1,500. The only call among them was a December contract with a $3,200 strike.

Puts continued to command higher premiums than calls, reflecting greater demand for protection against a potential ETH price decline.

AI and DeFi Cryptocurrencies Face Broad Selling Pressure

AI-related tokens weakened alongside technology stocks. NEAR fell 7.8%, while Bittensor (TAO) lost 3.1%. The declines coincided with Alphabet shares falling roughly 10% in premarket trading following disappointing earnings commentary.

DeFi assets also moved lower, with Raydium (RAY) down 8.9%, Jito (JTO) declining 6.8%, and Ethena (ENA) shedding 6%.

JasmyCoin (JASMY) dropped 10%, making it the weakest performer in the CoinDesk 100. Dash (DASH) and Pump.fun (PUMP) each recorded losses of approximately 6%.

Tron (TRX) bucked the broader downturn, edging up 0.5%.

CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index fell to 54 out of 100 from 60 in the previous session, suggesting that altcoins were losing ground relative to the wider cryptocurrency market.