Bitcoin Briefly Breaks Below $80,000 as Hot CPI and PPI Data Revive Fed Rate Hike Fears

Bitcoin fell as low as $80,154 on Thursday, briefly breaching the $80,000 level, after September's Consumer Price Index rose 3.7% year over year, topping both the 3.4% August reading and analyst forecasts of 3.6%. A subsequent PPI print came in at 6.3%, a four-year high, compounding inflation anxiety and pushing the probability of an October Federal Reserve rate hike to between 29% and 50%, up from 18% to 25% a week earlier. By mid-morning ET, Bitcoin had partially recovered to around $81,000, still down roughly 2.88% over 24 hours, with the Fear and Greed Index sliding to 53, neutral, from a 2026 high of 73 just ten days prior.

The inflation data landed alongside a sharp global equity selloff. South Korea's Kospi plunged as much as 8%, triggering a 20-minute trading halt, with chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics among the hardest hit. Japan's Nikkei fell 5.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1.2%, with the index itself sliding 2.02% to 29,950.82. The simultaneous weakness in AI-linked chip stocks added a separate layer of selling pressure on crypto markets, which analysts and sources labeled an AI selloff compounding the macro stress.

Nearly $1 billion in crypto futures positions were liquidated within 24 hours, with Ether accounting for roughly $283 million to $286 million and Bitcoin for about $196 million to $197 million. Around 91.6% of the liquidated positions were longs. Ether fell more than 5.7% to approximately $2,350, while XRP dropped about 4.73% to $1.31 and Dogecoin lost 8.6% over the week versus Bitcoin's 2% decline. The total crypto market cap briefly shed more than $100 billion, falling to roughly $2.71 trillion.

Spot Bitcoin ETF outflows intensified, with approximately $261 million to $262 million exiting on Wednesday alone, led by BlackRock and Fidelity, and cumulative net outflows reaching about $859 million over six trading sessions. Bitcoin now trades below the $81,500 average cost basis of US spot ETF holders. XRP funds were the lone bright spot, attracting roughly $740,000 to $770,000 and posting 13 consecutive weeks of inflows. On-chain, Bitcoin touched a low of $80,154 before stabilizing, with the key support band at $80,000 to $81,500 holding for most of the session, while resistance sits near $83,000 and a larger supply wall looms around $88,000. A separate liquidation cluster lies near $75,000 on the downside.

Amid the volatility, Mastercard announced a global platform enabling stablecoin payments at merchants across more than 200 countries, developed in partnership with BVNK, offering a structurally bullish signal for crypto adoption even as spot prices struggled. Siebert Financial analyst Brian Vieten maintained a long-term price target of $175,000 for Bitcoin, implying a 117% rally from current levels.