Bitcoin Slips Below $79,000 as Traders Begin Pricing a Fed Hike

Bitcoin fell below $79,000 on Thursday as crypto markets extended a retreat from this week's $80,000 milestone, with derivatives traders starting to price the possibility of a Federal Reserve rate hike rather than the cuts markets had been anticipating for months.

Every major token except Solana and BNB was flat or lower over the past 24 hours. XRP led the daily losses even while holding a 28% weekly gain, and Bitcoin preserved a 14% advance on the week — a sign that the pullback is so far a consolidation of August's sharp rally rather than a reversal of it.

What Shifted

The turning point came Wednesday, when hotter-than-expected US PCE inflation data pushed Bitcoin as low as $78,000, dragging stocks and gold lower alongside it. The reading strengthened the case that the Fed may keep policy tight for longer, and overnight rate markets began assigning meaningful probability to a hike — a stark change from the easing cycle traders had priced earlier in the summer.

Risk assets across the board have responded in kind. Crypto's decline has tracked weakness in equities and precious metals rather than any industry-specific shock, with macro data now the dominant driver of short-term price action.

Rally Still Intact

The broader picture remains constructive. Bitcoin broke above $80,000 on Tuesday for the first time in months, US spot Bitcoin ETFs tore through a seven-day inflow streak that erased most of 2026's outflows, and on-chain analysis points to strong supply absorption even as price struggles to reclaim the $80,000 level.

Analysts flag $83,000 as the next key resistance: CryptoQuant argued this week that Bitcoin has entered the "initial phase" of a new bull market, but only a sustained break above that level would confirm it.

For now, the market is caught between two forces — improving structural demand and a Federal Reserve that may be forced to tighten into sticky inflation. Thursday's action suggests traders are content to take profits and wait for the next macro signal before pushing Bitcoin back toward six figures.