The cryptocurrency market experienced a sharp decline, with the global crypto market cap falling 3.2% and shedding $89.36 billion to reach $2.71 trillion. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, dropped from a 24-hour high of $83,700 to below $81,000, declining 3.5% over the period and reaching a low of $80,226.
The sell-off followed the release of the September Consumer Price Index report on October 14, which showed U.S. inflation rose to 3.7% year over year, compared with 3.4% in August. The higher-than-expected reading reduced expectations for near-term interest rate cuts and raised the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike to 44%, according to CME FedWatch data, up from 18% previously. The Fed had raised rates by 0.25 percentage points on September 16, marking its first rate increase since 2023.
The price decline triggered widespread liquidations in leveraged trading positions. According to CoinGlass, 182,574 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with total losses reaching $972.46 million. Long positions accounted for $891.2 million, or 91.7% of all liquidations, as traders who had bet on rising prices faced significant losses. Ethereum also experienced heavy liquidations, with more than $293 million in losses as its price moved toward $2,390.
Institutional demand weakened as well. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $261.4 million in net outflows on October 14, ending a three-week streak of inflows. Since October 7, these funds have experienced approximately $1.02 billion in total net outflows.
Bitcoin's immediate support level lies between $80,000 and $80,500, with the largest cluster of buy orders on Binance's spot market having shifted from $81,000 to $80,000. However, this level remains below the average cost basis of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs at around $81,500. Markets are monitoring the U.S. Producer Price Index report, due on October 15, ahead of the Fed's October 27–28 meeting.
