Bitcoin opened October hovering near $85,000 after bouncing off support around $83,500, kicking off the seasonally bullish "Uptober" period following back-to-back positive months. Liquidations across the market cooled sharply overnight, and Citigroup raised its 12-month bitcoin price target to $113,000. Separately, on-chain data show a large sell-order cluster near $85,000 has been removed entirely, clearing overhead that had capped the price.
Bitcoin hovered near $85,000 on Oct. 1, hitting resistance above that level and finding support near $83,500. The cryptocurrency showed a 1% gain over the prior 24 hours. The move followed Wednesday's release of better-than-expected personal consumption expenditures data, and came just hours after bitcoin closed September with net gains, its second consecutive positive month.
Price swings between $83,200 and $85,000
The session was volatile. Bitcoin's price slid from $84,410 to $83,500 before holding that range into late Wednesday. It then rallied to $84,300 around 2:15 a.m. EST. Two hours later, it plunged to just above $83,200 before climbing back toward $85,000.
Liquidations cool as leverage clears
Daily bitcoin liquidations fell to about $35 million, down sharply from more than $80 million the day before. Longs accounted for 60% of the total. Across the broader crypto market, liquidations reached $193 million, with long bets making up nearly $117 million of that figure. Since surging in the second half of August, bitcoin has trimmed its year-to-date losses to just 3%.
The reversal has reignited bullish sentiment. Citigroup raised its 12-month bitcoin price target to $113,000 from $82,000. The bank cited accelerating crypto market activity, a favorable macro environment, and resuming bitcoin ETF inflows. It projects roughly $5 billion in net ETF inflows over the next 12 months.
A thinning sell wall near $85,000
A separate overhang may also be easing. On-chain data from Glassnode showed a sell wall on Binance between $85,000 and $85,500 that tripled in size from September 24 to September 30. Buyers have since removed that sell wall entirely, according to a post on X. That reduces the stack of orders bitcoin needs to absorb to climb further.
Still, the ceiling has proven stubborn before. On September 21, bitcoin briefly printed an intraday high near $85,248, a push that relied partly on roughly $648 million in short liquidations and did not hold. ETF demand has also cooled since, with net inflows bottoming at $24 million on September 28.
Sources: Bitcoin.com News, Crypto Briefing
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