- The crypto market’s October slump has worsened, with a 3% drop.
- Bitcoin slipped below $110,000 and Ethereum fell below $3,900.
- The market has lost roughly $370 billion in value this month alone.
The cryptocurrency market’s brutal October slump has worsened, with a fresh 3% drop sending Bitcoin below the key $110,000 level and dragging most major altcoins deep into the red.
The broad-based drawdown is the latest chapter in one of the harshest months of the year for the digital asset space, as a potent combination of thinning institutional support, technical disruptions, and simmering macroeconomic tensions creates a powerful “risk-off” wave.
The scale of the recent carnage is immense. The market has now erased roughly $370 billion in value this month alone, with as much as $19 billion in leveraged positions being liquidated.
Futures open interest has also been decimated, with $65 billion wiped out, resetting market activity to the levels of early 2025.
Institutional support thins as ETF outflows accelerate
A key driver of the recent weakness has been a dramatic and worrying reversal in institutional sentiment.
After months of powerful inflows, spot Bitcoin ETFs have become a source of intense selling pressure, posting a staggering $1.23 billion in weekly net outflows.
This included a massive $366 million outflow on Friday alone, a move that removed a critical layer of buying support from an already fragile market.
A perfect storm: an AWS outage and a SpaceX scare
This fundamental weakness was compounded by a perfect storm of technical and psychological blows.
A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) disrupted access to a number of leading crypto venues, including the US giant Coinbase and several DeFi front-ends.
The disruption widened spreads and accelerated forced liquidations, with over $240 million in long positions being wiped out in just 24 hours, a move that briefly pushed Bitcoin toward $107,500.
Market nerves were frayed further after on-chain trackers flagged a large transfer of 2,395 BTC ($268 million) from a wallet associated with SpaceX.
While analysts suggested the flows were likely internal custody reshuffles, the timing sparked a wave of “Is Musk selling?” headlines, adding another layer of fear to an already anxious market.
What to watch next as the market hangs in the balance
Technically, the market is now at a critical inflection point. Bitcoin is facing a thick layer of resistance between $112,000 and $115,500, with key support levels now sitting at $108,000 and $105,000.
A decisive daily close back above the 50-day moving average (around $113,000) is needed to stabilize the market. Failure to do so keeps the psychological $100,000 zone firmly in play and raises the risk of a much deeper bearish phase.
The near-term catalysts remain firmly in the macroeconomic arena, with the upcoming US CPI print and any fresh hints from the Federal Reserve on interest rates likely to be the next major market-moving events.
For now, a battered and bruised crypto market is left to lick its wounds and wait for the storm to pass.
