Market Pullback Deepens: Bitcoin Slips, ETH Drops, and Traders Panic Over Musk’s BTC Move
The crypto market’s October slump just worsened, dropping by around 3%. Bitcoin slipped under $110,000 intraday and Ethereum fell below $3,900, dragging most altcoins into the red as a risk-off wave rippled across digital assets.
The drawdown follows one of the harshest months of the year. The market has erased roughly $370 billion in value, with as much as $19 billion in leveraged positions liquidated and $65 billion wiped from futures open interest, resetting activity to early-2025 levels.
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Institutional support thinned as spot Bitcoin ETFs posted about $1.23B in weekly net outflows, including $366M on Friday alone, removing a key buyer during sell pressure.
At the same time, a major AWS outage disrupted access on leading venues, including Coinbase and several DeFi front ends, widening spreads and accelerating forced unwinds. Within 24 hours, over $240M in long positions, mostly BTC and ETH, were liquidated, briefly pushing Bitcoin toward $107,500.
BTC's price trends to the downside on the daily chart. Source: BTCUSD on Tradingview
Musk/SpaceX Wallet Move Fuels Fear As Macro Tensions Simmer
Nerves frayed further after trackers flagged SpaceX transfers totaling 2,395 BTC ($268M). While on-chain analysts suggest the flows look like internal custody reshuffles, with receiving wallets still inactive, the timing sparked “Is Musk selling?” headlines and added to headline risk.
The backdrop was already fragile as renewed U.S.–China trade tensions, a stronger dollar, and U.S. fiscal uncertainty have pushed investors toward cash and safe havens.
Micro catalysts didn’t help confidence. A Paxos operational error that minted an astronomical number of PYUSD units (quickly reversed) reminded traders of infrastructure risk just as liquidity thinned.
Meanwhile, altcoins bled more than majors (averaging 4% drop) as SOL, BNB, ADA and DOGE posted deeper single-day declines, while XRP showed relative resilience on fresh institutional headlines. The rotation underscores a classic flight to quality: when BTC wobbles, smaller caps usually underperform.
What To Watch Next
Technically, Bitcoin faces layered resistance near $112,000–$115,500, with supports at $108,000, $105,000–$102,000, and the psychological $100,000 zone.
A decisive daily close back above the 50-day region ($113,000) would help stabilize momentum; lose $101,700 and the market risks a deeper bearish phase as stop-losses and auto-deleveraging re-ignite.
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For Ethereum, bulls want to reclaim $4,000 and the $4,050–$4,150 supply area; failure keeps pressure on toward $3,700–$3,600.
Near-term catalysts remain firmly macro, with the upcoming U.S. CPI print and any Federal Reserve hints on rate cuts or quantitative tightening (QT) likely to shift liquidity dynamics quickly. On the micro side, investors should monitor ETF flows to see if outflows ease, as well as exchange uptime and whale behavior.
Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview
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