Bitcoin dropped below $81,000 on October 8, nearing a three-week low, as United States spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded their largest single-day redemption wave since June. The synchronized outflows erased the category’s entire net inflows for the month and amplified selling pressure already building from rising energy prices, multi-decade highs in Treasury yields, and renewed expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain—or even extend—its restrictive interest-rate posture.
Data tracked by Decrypt showed that investors yanked $484.9 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs in a single session, a figure Cointelegraph rounded to roughly $485 million. Either tally represents the biggest daily withdrawal since June and completely offset the modest inflows that had accumulated during the first several trading days of October. The same Cointelegraph report added that Ether-based funds notched their seventh straight outflow session, signaling that the defensive repositioning was not confined to bitcoin alone.
The weakness in digital assets unfolded against a volatile backdrop in traditional markets. Decrypt noted that crude oil was trading near $100 per barrel while U.S. bond yields pushed to their highest levels since 2002, tightening financial conditions across global risk assets. Cointelegraph tied the rally in oil to reports that military confrontation between the United States and Iran could return, stirring geopolitical anxiety that often redirects capital away from speculative markets.
Monetary policy compounded the downdraft. Bitcoin Magazine reported that bitcoin’s continued slide reflected growing fears that the Federal Reserve is “increasingly tempted to raise interest rates,” while Decrypt cautioned that the Fed “isn’t done hiking.” When government bond yields rise to levels last seen more than two decades ago, the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding stores of value such as bitcoin increases, a dynamic that appeared to weigh heavily on ETF flows and spot prices alike.
Bitcoin Magazine confirmed that bitcoin breached the $81,000 threshold during the session, a level Cointelegraph characterized as a roughly three-week low. The combination of resurgent crude near triple digits, Treasury rates climbing to their highest mark since 2002, and hawkish commentary from the Federal Reserve produced a macro environment that proved unfavorable for risk-on positioning. With spot Bitcoin funds posting their steepest daily outflows in over four months and Ether products extending their own withdrawal streak, what some traders had branded an “Uptober” recovery swiftly gave way to broad-based losses across the digital-asset complex.