Bitcoin slides to $80,000 as Fed holds with two hike dissenters; Alphabet, Samsung earnings hit tech — what is confirmed
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Answer first: Bitcoin fell about 1.4% to roughly $80,100 on Thursday, October 29, after the Federal Reserve held rates with two officials dissenting in favor of a hike, and disappointing earnings from Samsung and Alphabet rattled tech stocks. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs still took in $137 million on Wednesday, a third straight day of inflows.
Key points
- Price: BTC around $80,100, down ~1.4% on the day after dipping to $79,600; ether ~$2,317, down ~1.7% (CoinDesk, 7:11 a.m. EDT)
- Macro: the Fed held its target range at 3.75–4.00% on Wednesday; two officials dissented for a quarter-point increase, and Chair Kevin Warsh gave no signal for December
- Earnings shock: Samsung fell 4% despite record quarterly profit; Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 1.1% after Alphabet missed expectations
- Flows: spot bitcoin ETFs added $137 million Wednesday ($423.7 million over three days, Farside Investors via CoinDesk)
Why it's trending
Selection basis: the most-covered crypto and market-structure story on October 29 across major outlets (CoinDesk, AP, CNBC, Bloomberg all led with it). The combination of a hawkish Fed dissent, big-tech earnings misses and an ETF flow streak pulls in both crypto traders and exchange-market readers.
Timeline
- Wednesday: Fed holds rates at 3.75–4.00%; two officials vote for a +25bp hike; Warsh declines to signal December
- Wednesday: spot bitcoin ETFs post a third straight day of net inflows (+$137M)
- Thursday (Asia): Samsung slides 4% after earnings; Kospi -1.2%; Nasdaq-100 futures -1.1% after Alphabet's miss
- Thursday: BTC trades near $80,100; AI-linked tokens among the hardest hit (NEAR -7.8%, TAO -3.1%)
- Later Thursday: the September PCE inflation report, the Fed's preferred gauge, is due
Confirmed / unconfirmed
Confirmed: the Fed decision and the two hike-dissenters (Fed statement, reported by AP/CoinDesk), ETF inflow figures (Farside Investors data cited by CoinDesk), Samsung and Alphabet share moves (CoinDesk/AP). Market-implied odds of a December hike rose to about 79.8% from 73.4% a week earlier, per CME FedWatch cited by Investing.com.
Unconfirmed: whether the Fed actually raises in December — officials gave no commitment, and the PCE print could change the picture. Where bitcoin's price finds support is market speculation, not fact.
What it means for readers
- Rising rate expectations raise the opportunity cost of holding speculative assets — that is the mechanism behind today's crypto-versus-stocks selloff, not a crypto-specific failure.
- ETF flows are still positive: price down plus inflows means the selling pressure is concentrated in derivatives and spot trading, not in ETF redemptions.
- If you follow exchanges: watch tonight's PCE release and December Fed pricing (CME FedWatch) rather than intraday price noise.
What to watch next
September PCE inflation data due later today, Amazon and Intel earnings after the bell, and whether ETF inflows continue for a fourth day.
Sources
- CoinDesk, "Bitcoin drops to $80,000 on Fed dissent, Samsung, Alphabet earnings; AI tokens slump" — 2026-10-29
- AP News, "World shares and U.S. futures are mixed after Fed keeps rates unchanged" — 2026-10-29
- Investing.com (Japanese edition), market-implied December hike odds via CME FedWatch — 2026-10-29