As Asian markets saw a sharp sell-off, Bitcoin held above $80,000, while most altcoins fell and a small number of tokens stood out with gains.
In CoinDesk’s October 15 market review, Bitcoin recovered some of its intraday losses and traded at around $81,200. The price and index data in the report reflect conditions in the morning hours; the index comparison was measured as of 11:40 a.m. TRT.
Bitcoin buyers stepped in just above $80,000, near the roughly $80,300 low seen on October 8. Since midnight UTC, Bitcoin was down about 0.5%, while Ethereum fell 2% over the same period to around $2,370.
Altcoins felt the sell-off more sharply
A 8% drop in South Korea’s Kospi index triggered circuit breakers, which temporarily halt trading during sharp moves. Nasdaq 100 futures also fell about 1%.
Smaller market-cap assets suffered heavier losses in crypto markets. The CoinDesk 80 index fell 2.2% and the Bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 declined 0.7%, while the memecoin index lost 4%. Only six assets in the CoinDesk 100 advanced.
Pump.fun (PUMP) was the index’s biggest loser, falling about 9%. Solana ecosystem tokens Jito (JTO) and Jupiter (JUP) fell about 6%, while Solana was down 1.1% at around $103. Canton (CC) and Optimism (OP) fell about 7%, and Aerodrome (AERO) dropped 6%.
Which altcoins rose despite the decline?
Starknet (STRK) rose 11%, recovering after a 17% drop on October 13. According to the measurement cited in the source, the token was about 280% above the yearly low it reached on August 16.
Pyth Network (PYTH) rose about 3%. The move extended a rally that began on October 8, after the project’s DAO decided to direct all product revenue toward monthly token buybacks. According to CoinMarketCap data, PYTH’s 24-hour trading volume rose about 67% to $96 million.
Among larger assets, Tron traded nearly flat, while Monero fell about 0.6% and Hyperliquid about 1%.
Rate expectations in focus ahead of the U.S. open
After U.S. inflation data came in above expectations, the probability of an October rate hike on CME FedWatch rose from about 22% to as high as 47%, then fell back to around 26% in the measurement reported in the article.
Following the sell-off in the Asian session, U.S. Treasury yields and changes in rate-hike expectations were among the key indicators watched ahead of the U.S. market open.
Not investment advice.