Bitcoin fell beneath the $80,000 threshold during Thursday’s Asian session as disappointing earnings from major technology companies and the Federal Reserve’s hawkish policy stance weighed on investor sentiment. The decline reversed Bitcoin’s two-day rebound and helped drive $356 million in liquidations across cryptocurrency futures markets over 24 hours.
BTC dropped from above $81,700 to approximately $79,800, dragging down the broader digital asset market as bullish traders were forced to exit leveraged positions.
Tech Stock Losses Put Pressure on Cryptocurrencies
The latest downturn followed Wednesday’s U.S. market close, when Alphabet reported third-quarter revenue and operating income below Wall Street estimates.
The company posted $127.58 billion in revenue, falling short of the $127.93 billion forecast. Operating income reached $40.58 billion, compared with expectations of $43.16 billion. Earnings per share also decreased to $2.12 from $2.87 a year earlier.
Google Services generated $96.30 billion in revenue, missing the $98.40 billion estimate. Google Search revenue came in at $63.35 billion, below the anticipated $64.85 billion.
Google Cloud provided some relief, recording $30.71 billion in revenue against a forecast of $29.10 billion. However, the stronger cloud performance did little to offset the broader disappointment, with Alphabet shares falling 10% in premarket trading on Thursday.
Selling pressure continued across Asian markets. Samsung shares declined more than 5% after its semiconductor division delivered results slightly below investor expectations.
The chip business reported a 15-fold surge in operating profit to 106.5 trillion won for the three months ending in September. Nevertheless, the figure missed the average analyst estimate of 108.5 trillion won.
Samsung also projected annual capital expenditure of 84.4 trillion won, equivalent to roughly $63 billion, representing an increase of around 60%.
Although the company’s overall net income rose 39%, investors reacted negatively to the results. South Korea’s Kospi index dropped more than 2%, while Nasdaq futures declined 1.4%.
The sell-off extended into cryptocurrency markets, pushing Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Solana and other tokens lower as investors moved away from riskier assets.
Federal Reserve Policy Adds to Market Uncertainty
The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.75%–4% overnight. Despite holding rates steady, the decision was interpreted as hawkish because policymakers continued to express concern about inflation.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh acknowledged that inflation was gradually improving but warned that price pressures remained too elevated. ING maintained its expectation that the central bank could raise rates again in December, following its September increase.
Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income and head of its global allocation investment team, urged investors to avoid making overly confident predictions about the direction of interest rates.
“Real yields remain attractive, and there’s considerable income available across high-quality fixed-income markets,” Rieder said.
Rieder added that BlackRock continues to favor a moderate duration strategy, allowing investors to benefit from current income opportunities while remaining cautious as the economy evolves.
For cryptocurrency markets, the prospect of persistently high real yields creates another obstacle. When inflation-adjusted returns on bonds remain attractive, investors may have less incentive to allocate capital to speculative assets such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
$356 Million in Crypto Futures Positions Liquidated
Bitcoin’s decline below $80,000 triggered further liquidations across derivatives markets, compounding losses for traders who had positioned themselves for a recovery.
Market data showed that $356 million worth of cryptocurrency futures positions were liquidated over the previous 24 hours. Long positions accounted for $205 million of the total, reflecting the impact on traders betting that prices would rise.
Bitcoin futures liquidations reached $94 million, while Ether futures accounted for $72 million.
The liquidation figures illustrate how quickly leveraged positions can unravel when market conditions deteriorate. With technology stocks weakening and concerns about the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook persisting, Bitcoin’s latest decline has placed renewed focus on whether the cryptocurrency can regain the $80,000 level and sustain its recovery.
