Bitcoin slipped below $84,000 on September 24 after twice failing to hold above $87,000 this week, dragging Ethereum and XRP lower with it. The pullback coincides with a stronger US dollar and rising bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike, though steady ETF inflows and whale accumulation point to underlying demand that has not disappeared.
Bitcoin dropped below $84,000 on Wednesday, giving back most of a rally that had carried it to an eight-month high days earlier. The asset had blasted through a few major resistance levels to top $87,000 on Monday, then repeated that break on Wednesday morning before another rejection sent it lower.
Bitcoin dips below $84K after a volatile week
The move caps a swinging stretch that began after the CLARITY Act was voted down and the Fed hiked rates, when Bitcoin fell to $75,000 last Wednesday. It recovered to surge past $80,000 on Friday, reached $82,000 on Saturday, then slipped to $80,300 after fresh escalations on two major war fronts. From there it gained roughly $7,000 in about 12 hours to peak above $87,000, pulled back to $85,000 on Tuesday, then topped $87,000 again on Wednesday before the latest rejection.
Its market cap has since dropped to $1.680 trillion. Dominance over the altcoins held flat at 59%.
Altcoins followed Bitcoin lower. Ethereum slumped below $2,700 while XRP plunged more than 7% to under $1.50 after a rejection from over $1.60 a day earlier. Separately, Ethereum fell to $2,683 as liquidations across the crypto market reached $513 million, according to CoinGlass data.
Dollar strength and Fed hike bets add pressure
The retreat lines up with a stronger dollar. The US dollar index briefly climbed to 101.231 on September 23, its highest reading since July 29. Meanwhile, 65% of traders now bet the Fed will raise rates by 25 basis points at the October Federal Open Market Committee meeting. A rate hike of that size would push US rates to 4.00%-4.25%, which could weigh on Bitcoin because higher rates draw investors toward government bonds instead of risk assets. However, the hawkish stance is now drawing scrutiny from some members of the Trump administration.
ETF inflows and whale buying persist
Despite the drop, institutional demand has not slowed. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have posted five straight days of inflows, pulling in more than $2.5 billion, with September 21 the strongest single day at almost $1 billion. Bitcoin held on exchanges has dropped to a four-month low of about 2.7 million coins, according to CryptoQuant, suggesting investors are moving to self-custody rather than positioning to sell. According to Santiment, wallets holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC have also purchased almost 114,000 BTC since mid-July, lifting their combined holdings to about 5.24 million BTC, or 26% of the circulating supply.
Sources: CryptoPotato, CryptoPotato, CoinGape
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