Bitcoin falls 2.8% to $81,400 as correlation with stocks strengthens
Key Facts
Bitcoin fell 2.8% over 24 hours on Thursday morning, October 22, as its performance became more closely correlated with stocks, according to remarks by LMAX market strategist Joel Kruger cited by CoinDesk. The cryptocurrency traded at about $81,400 at 9:50 a.m. Eastern time, according to CoinMarketCap. Kruger said "the previous period of crypto outperformance has given way to closer movement with equities." The decline came after bitcoin's share of total cryptocurrency market capitalization reached 60% on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk. That was its highest level since May, with its price falling despite its growing relative weight in the cryptocurrency market.
On the institutional demand side, U.S. spot bitcoin funds attracted about $653 million in net inflows on Monday, October 19, after a week of net outflows, according to Glassnode's report published on October 21. However, the funds' average trading volume over 30 days fell to less than a quarter of its level a year earlier, according to the firm, even as money returned. Glassnode estimated the average cost basis of holdings at the U.S. spot funds and bitcoin treasury companies it tracks at between $80 thousand and $81.5 thousand. Thursday morning's price therefore fell within the cost range of those holdings, while fund trading activity remained below its level a year earlier. On profit-taking, realized profits on the network slowed over the previous week to about half their pace during the week of September's peak, according to Glassnode.
The market moves coincided with Meta's third-quarter 2026 results, which showed revenue of $64.60 billion, according to the company's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company reported negative free cash flow of $2.12 billion for the same quarter. Capital expenditure totaled $34.91 billion, including principal payments on finance leases, according to the filing. For the full year, Meta raised the lower end of its capital expenditure forecast, bringing the range to between $135 billion and $145 billion, according to Reuters in a report published on Investing.com. The previous range was between $130 billion and $145 billion, meaning the revision raised the minimum expected spending while leaving the upper limit unchanged.
Tesla reported revenue of $28,046 million in the third quarter of 2026, according to its earnings update published on its investor relations website. That was below revenue of $28,095 million in the corresponding quarter of 2025. It also fell short of the average analyst forecast of $28,341 million, which the company compiled and published on October 19 before releasing its results. Operating income fell to $718 million from $1,624 million a year earlier, according to the company's update. Tesla nevertheless generated positive free cash flow of about $1.5 billion during the quarter, despite lower revenue and operating income compared with the corresponding period.
In commentary published later during Thursday's session on the Interactive Brokers website, Steve Sosnick wrote that "investors are beginning to question whether all this heavy AI-related spending will deliver the hoped-for returns." At the close on Thursday, October 22, the S&P 500 was down 1.2%, according to the Associated Press. It was the index's worst session since July, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6%. Most U.S. stocks nevertheless rose during the session, according to the agency. Declines in heavily weighted technology stocks overshadowed those gains, leaving the indexes lower despite broad gains outside those stocks.
On monetary policy, these moves follow the Federal Reserve's decision on September 16, 2026, to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. The target range rose to between 3.75% and 4%, according to the U.S. central bank's statement. The decision was unanimous, and the bank said in its statement that "inflation remains elevated." The next Federal Open Market Committee meeting takes place on October 27 and 28, according to the Fed's official calendar. It will be followed by a meeting on December 8 and 9, accompanied by the release of the Summary of Economic Projections.