Bitcoin Slides Toward $80,000 as Oil Prices Climb
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The $80,000 mark is drawing uncomfortably close: Bitcoin was trading at around $80,700 (about €72,000) on Saturday afternoon, down another 1.2 percent over 24 hours. That puts the price roughly 5 percent below its midweek high of nearly $85,000. Bitcoin had already slipped toward $81,000 on Thursday, and oil prices have risen sharply again since then.
Prices at a Glance
The table below shows the largest crypto assets by market capitalization (excluding stablecoins) according to CoinMarketCap, as of Saturday afternoon.
| Crypto asset | Price | 24 hours | 7 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $80,702.09 | −1.18% | −0.95% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | $2,367.99 | −1.34% | −2.52% |
| BNB (BNB) | $731.51 | −1.95% | +1.66% |
| XRP (XRP) | $1.29 | −2.44% | −1.11% |
| Solana (SOL) | $101.57 | −2.82% | −2.59% |
| Tron (TRX) | $0.3301 | +0.01% | −1.91% |
| Zcash (ZEC) | $1,158.03 | −5.83% | −0.78% |
| Hyperliquid (HYPE) | $75.67 | −2.98% | −4.01% |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | $0.0775 | −3.30% | −2.97% |
| Monero (XMR) | $592.94 | −2.77% | +6.82% |
| Chainlink (LINK) | $11.63 | −3.78% | −3.94% |
| UNUS SED LEO (LEO) | $9.03 | +0.02% | −0.01% |
| Cardano (ADA) | $0.2087 | −3.77% | −6.02% |
That gives Bitcoin a market capitalization of about $1.62 trillion. Almost the entire market is in the red: Zcash fell nearly 6 percent again, while Cardano, Chainlink and Dogecoin each lost more than 3 percent. Only BNB and Monero are up for the week. According to CoinGlass, about $440 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, $397 million of them long bets on rising prices.
Oil at a Five-Month High
The main source of the jitters is the price of oil. Brent crude settled at $116.72 a barrel on Friday, up 3.1 percent and its highest close since late April, Reuters reported. Brent gained about 6 percent for the week, and West Texas Intermediate now costs $103.27.
The reasons:
- Houthi attacks: The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a new wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia, including on energy facilities. Saudi Aramco reportedly ordered the evacuation of its headquarters in Dhahran.
- Strait of Hormuz: Attacks on tankers in the region increased significantly in October. Traders increasingly expect the United States to resume strikes on Iran.
- Risk premium: So far, hardly any oil is actually missing from the market. According to the analyst Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates, flows through the Strait of Hormuz have even increased recently. The price rally mainly reflects fear of disruptions.
- Oil spill: Authorities in the United Arab Emirates also reported an oil spill off Umm Al Quwain. The cause is still unclear.
Why Expensive Oil Weighs on Bitcoin
For Bitcoin, the oil price matters mainly through interest rates. Expensive oil drives up inflation, which makes rate cuts less likely and rate hikes more likely. The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries rose back to just under 5 percent on Friday. Markets largely expect the Federal Reserve to hold rates at its meeting on Wednesday, but CME FedWatch puts the probability of a quarter-point hike in December at about 71 percent. Higher rates make safe assets more attractive and weigh on risky assets like crypto.
On top of that comes the sell-off in tech stocks, with which Bitcoin has often moved in lockstep for months. The Nasdaq closed its second consecutive week in the red after doubts about the billions being spent on A.I. sent chip stocks tumbling on Thursday.
E.T.F.s: Biggest Outflow Since June
Institutional buyers are also pulling back. U.S. spot Bitcoin E.T.F.s recorded net outflows of $635.6 million on Thursday, the largest single-day outflow since June, The Block reported. BlackRock’s IBIT was hit hardest with $254.1 million, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with $217.5 million. That wiped out Wednesday’s inflows. For the week through Thursday, the funds were still up about $443 million. Ether E.T.F.s also lost $110.6 million on Thursday.
Fear & Greed Index: From Greed to Neutral
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index from Alternative.me has now caught up with the shift in sentiment. It stands at 51 points on Saturday, in neutral territory, down from 68 (“greed”) on Thursday. The index combines factors such as volatility, trading volume, social media sentiment and Bitcoin dominance into a value between 0 (extreme fear) and 100 (extreme greed).
$80,000 as a Test
Whether the $80,000 mark holds is likely to be decided in the coming days. Traders see $80,000 to $86,000 as the range of recent weeks. “If inflows fade and that floor breaks, the demand picture has weakened,” Lorris Beziers of Tesseract Group told The Block. Jeff Anderson of STS Digital is more relaxed, seeing the latest move as little more than a swing within that range. The Fed meeting on Wednesday and the situation in the Middle East are likely to be decisive.
