Bitcoin edged up 0.4% to $83,700 during Thursday's Asian trading session, following a pullback from Wednesday's peak of $85,500. The intraday high came after a milder-than-expected U.S. inflation report, though gains proved short-lived as other market forces reasserted downward pressure.
August's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report showed year-over-year price increases of 3.4%, with the core metric registering 3.0% annual growth. According to Dan Khus, chief analyst at LVRG Research, the figures reduced expectations for another Federal Reserve rate increase in October, with market participants now viewing December as a more probable window for policy tightening. Crypto markets initially interpreted this as positive, with Bitcoin briefly reclaiming the $85,000 level as government bond yields temporarily declined.
However, the rally faced headwinds from persistent bond market pressure. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hovered near 5.28%, barely below Wednesday's session high, while the 30-year yield stabilized around 5.62% after reaching levels not seen since 2002. Vetle Lunde, an analyst at K33, noted that climbing yields are driving capital away from riskier assets, with Bitcoin remaining in consolidation mode following its strongest weekly close since January.
Technical analyst Ted Pillows referenced a chart formation from early 2023, suggesting that Bitcoin might experience a pullback into the high $70,000 territory before initiating the next upward phase, based on similar fractal patterns observed during that period.
Institutional activity showed mixed signals. Santiment Intelligence reported that addresses holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC accumulated 41,025 BTC across a 10-day timeframe, pushing their aggregate holdings to 13.64 million BTC, representing 67.93% of circulating supply. This cohort has returned to accumulation levels last observed during August's mid-month rally. In contrast, the smallest retail addresses holding under 0.01 BTC exhibited minimal activity during the same window.
Among alternative cryptocurrencies, Ether traded near $2,700 and remains positioned for approximately 70% quarterly appreciation. XRP appears set to conclude the quarter with gains exceeding 40% despite its recent pullback to $1.50.
