Bitcoin fell below $70,000 on Friday for the first time since August, as investors bet on more US interest rate increases and pulled money out of Bitcoin funds. A slightly softer US inflation reading gave it a brief lift, but it slipped back. It is now about 45% below its record.
Bitcoin had a brutal day, and the evening brought only brief relief.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell below $70,000 in Asian trading on Friday, its first drop below that level since August, and sank as low as about $67,600. It traded around $69,300 by Friday evening, Indian time, roughly ₹65 lakh at current exchange rates (back of the envelope calculation).
Bitcoin is now about 15% lower than a month ago, about 31% lower than a year ago, and about 45% below its record of more than $126,000 set in October 2025. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has sunk to 20, deep in “extreme fear” territory.
A brief bounce on US inflation data
The key event of the day was US producer price data, released at 7 PM Indian time. Producer prices rose 0.3% in October, slightly below the 0.4% forecast. Core producer prices, which exclude volatile food and energy, rose 0.3%, in line with expectations.
Markets took the monthly number as a small relief. Bitcoin jumped to about $70,200 within minutes, forcing traders who had bet on further falls to buy back about $39 million of positions. The rally faded quickly, and Bitcoin slipped back below $70,000.
On an annual basis, US producer prices rose 6.5% in October, up from 6.3% in September and the highest since November 2022. Markets still expect a Federal Reserve rate increase in December, though the softer monthly figure eased bets on a larger half-point move.
Why Bitcoin is under pressure
Interest rates. Higher rates hurt Bitcoin because it pays no interest. When bonds and deposits pay more, holding Bitcoin becomes more expensive in comparison. The 10-year US Treasury yield has risen above 5%.
A strong dollar. The US dollar index climbed to its highest level since April 2025 this week. A strong dollar tends to weigh on Bitcoin.
The AI sell-off. The leadership crisis at Nvidia, whose chief executive Jensen Huang resigned on Thursday, has rattled technology stocks. Bitcoin increasingly trades alongside them.
Forced selling. More than $1 billion of crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours, most of them bets on rising prices.
The big buyers have left
US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the main route for institutional investors, recorded about $1.44 billion of net withdrawals over five straight sessions through Wednesday. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust lost more than $2 billion over nine consecutive sessions.
This week alone, the funds lost about $644 million through Thursday, according to CoinDesk, pushing their net flows for 2026 into the red by more than $1.5 billion.
Fresh money for crypto is also shrinking. The supply of stablecoins, the digital dollars traders use to buy crypto, fell by $14.2 billion over 30 days, the biggest drop since June 2022
Then there is Strategy, the company that holds more Bitcoin than any other. It owned 850,364 Bitcoin as of 8 November, bought at an average price of about $75,456. With Bitcoin near $69,300, its holdings are worth roughly $5.2 billion less than it paid.
Index provider MSCI is also removing Strategy from its global indexes at the end of the month, which could make it harder for the company to raise money for more purchases.
What comes next
The Fed. The Federal Reserve meets on 8 and 9 December, and November’s consumer price figures arrive on 10 December. Cooler inflation could give Bitcoin room to recover. Another hot reading would likely add pressure.
ETF flows. Crypto exchange Bitfinex found that, in earlier outflow streaks this year, Bitcoin gained a median 6.4% over the following 10 sessions when the streak ended with at least three straight days of inflows. Watch for that signal.
The longer view. In September, the Fed’s own projections pointed to interest rates staying around 4.1% through the end of 2027, with no net cuts. If that holds, the easy-money tailwind that has historically helped Bitcoin may not return for some time.
What it means
Crypto gains in India are taxed at a flat 30%, losses cannot be set off against other income, and a 1% tax is deducted at source on transactions. That makes frequent trading in a volatile market especially costly.
For long-term holders, the lesson of this week is that Bitcoin remains highly sensitive to global interest rates and investor mood. It can still deliver sharp rallies, but while the Fed is raising rates, it faces strong headwinds.
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