Bitcoin closed a daily candle below its 50-day moving average for the first time since August. Liquidations of long positions and spot ETF outflows added pressure as traders eye the Oct. 28 FOMC decision and Oct. 29 PCE print.
Bitcoin closed a daily candle below its 50-day moving average on Friday for the first time since August. The slide came as $318 million in long bets were wiped out in a single day.
Bitcoin trades about $1,000 under its 50-day average
For roughly two months, the average acted like a floor where every dip toward it got bought. On Saturday morning, bitcoin was trading around $80,800, down 1% on the day. Coingecko's daily closes put the 50-day average near $81,784.
Trump's Iran comments hit risk assets
The trigger was seemingly geopolitical, because President Donald Trump said on Friday that the U.S. may do another operation against Iran. The Dow fell 652 points that day as rising oil prices weighed on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, analysts estimated that $140 billion was wiped from the total crypto market cap over the week as crude pushed toward $120 a barrel.
Liquidations and ETF outflows add pressure
Whale Insider data showed $318 million in longs liquidated across crypto in 24 hours. A broader Coinglass snapshot counted 175,527 traders liquidated for a combined $495.74 million.
Spot investors were also heading for the exits. On Thursday, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs logged their biggest outflow since June, a $635 million exit led by Blackrock and Fidelity.
The calendar decides the next move
Analyst Benjamin Cowen outlined a path for a deeper slide that starts with a weekly close below $83,000, runs through the Oct. 28 FOMC decision and a hot PCE inflation reading on Oct. 29, and ends with oil spiking toward $120. According to Cowen, the scenario is void if bitcoin "gets and holds back above $83k".
Not everyone is bearish, however, and some traders said they are adding to existing longs. The Bitcoin Bull Score Index recently dropped from 80 to 60.
Source: Bitcoin News
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