Bitcoin Crashes Below $81K on Hot CPI as Crypto Liquidations Surpass $1.1 Billion in 24 Hours

Bitcoin plunged roughly $1,500 in ten minutes late Wednesday, briefly touching $80,902 before bouncing, as a hotter-than-expected September US inflation reading of 3.7% year over year rattled risk assets globally. Ethereum dropped below $2,400 and at points fell as low as $2,350, compounding losses across the crypto market. Within the first hour of the move, more than $485 million in crypto positions were liquidated, with nearly $465 million of those being long bets. A 24-hour snapshot showed total liquidations crossing $1.1 billion, of which $1.04 billion were long positions, with Bitcoin alone accounting for $286.15 million at the asset level.

The crypto rout unfolded alongside a broad global risk-off shift. Asian equities tumbled, with South Korea's Kospi losing 8% and Japan's Nikkei 225 declining 5% during morning trading. Total crypto market capitalization fell 4.96% over 24 hours to $2.76 trillion, according to BeInCrypto Markets data. Long positions represented 91.6% of the roughly $942 million in 24-hour leveraged wipeouts tracked by Coinglass.

Macroeconomic crosscurrents complicated the picture beyond inflation alone. The hot CPI briefly pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to 5.329% and the DXY dollar index to 102.945, but both reversed sharply. AI financing concerns hit CoreWeave, Oracle, and Asian tech stocks, and a report that China was buying US Treasuries helped push 10-year yields back down roughly 21 basis points from their post-CPI high. Gold rebounded from weekly lows to retake $4,150 as the dollar lost its haven bid. Bitcoin recovered above $81,000 briefly before dipping back below that level again, and analysts noted that short-term-holder realized losses, while rising on October 15 from October 12 levels, remained below the October 9 peak and well under the 42.7% historical average at around 31%.