Bitcoin (BTC) is trading near $85,595 on Tuesday after another failed attempt to break above $87,000, as more than $172 million in leveraged crypto positions were wiped out over 24 hours and U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) slipped back into net outflows. Traders are now looking to the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes, due Wednesday, for the next direction.
Bitcoin Price Holds Above $85,000 After Late Sell-Off
Bitcoin traded at $85,595.26, down 0.1% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko market data at the time of writing. The 24-hour range ran from $85,009.70 to $86,662.29. Bitcoin’s market capitalization stood at $1.72 trillion, while 24-hour trading volume was about $27.79 billion.
Open interest in perpetual futures, which are derivative contracts with no expiry date that let traders bet on price with borrowed funds, stood at about $68.95 billion. Circulating supply is 20.094 million BTC against a fixed maximum of 21 million.
Intraday, BTC climbed toward $86,600 late Monday before reversing sharply to about $85,100. It recovered to near $86,000 in early Tuesday trade, then slipped back to the mid-$85,000 area. The move extends a pattern of repeated rejections in the $86,700 to $87,000 zone, which followed the asset’s hold near $86,000 earlier this week.
Bitcoin also remains below its 2026 yearly opening price, which sits around $87,570 to $87,720 depending on the exchange.
Crypto Liquidations Cross $172 Million as Both Sides Get Hit
Liquidations happen when an exchange forcibly closes a leveraged position because the trader’s margin can no longer cover losses. CoinGlass data showed 64,290 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with total liquidations of $172.45 million. Long positions, which profit when prices rise, accounted for $101.30 million. Short positions, which profit when prices fall, accounted for $71.14 million.
Bitcoin led with $53.03 million in liquidations, including $37.43 million in longs and $15.60 million in shorts. Ether (ETH) followed with $21.46 million. The largest single liquidation was an $11.85 million BTCUSDT order on Binance, a contract pairing Bitcoin with the Tether (USDT) stablecoin.
The shorter window shows a shift. Over the past 12 hours, shorts took the larger share at $31.87 million against $21.02 million in longs. This suggests the late Monday drop flushed out longs first, and the recovery that followed squeezed short sellers. Liquidations alternating between longs and shorts within a narrow band point to range-bound trading rather than a decisive breakout.
The CoinGlass liquidation heatmap shows liquidity concentrated near $87,600 on the upside and $83,400 on the downside. On-chain analytics firm Glassnode has flagged the largest cluster of short liquidations near $90,000, with smaller clusters near $83,000 and $75,000.
Spot Bitcoin ETF Flows Turn Negative
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of about $89.8 million on October 5, reversing a $189.9 million inflow on October 2. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) was the only major fund with inflows, adding about $69.9 million. ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) posted the largest outflow at about $85.2 million, while Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) lost about $74.5 million.
For the week ended October 2, the funds still drew a net inflow of about $241 million, their third straight positive week. That figure was well below the roughly $2.39 billion recorded in the week ended September 25. Total spot Bitcoin ETF net assets stand near $111 billion, about 6.4% of Bitcoin’s market value, with cumulative net inflows near $57.7 billion since the products launched in January 2024.
Slower ETF demand helps explain the price action. Futures activity has lifted BTC toward $87,000 several times, but without steady spot buying, those moves have not held.
Strategy Adds 334 BTC Near Current Price
Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy, bought 334 BTC for about $28.7 million between October 1 and October 4 at an average price of $85,838.80, according to its Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A Form 8-K is a report public companies file to disclose major events.
The purchase lifted Strategy’s holdings to 848,000 BTC, acquired for about $63.97 billion at an average cost near $75,437 per coin. The buy was funded through at-the-market stock sales and cash. With Bitcoin near $85,595, the company’s holdings remain in unrealized profit, though its latest batch was bought slightly above the current price.
Fed Minutes, Jobs Data and Treasury Yields in Focus
The U.S. economy added about 29,000 jobs in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), well short of forecasts and with the unemployment rate rising to 4.2%. Following the report, the probability of another 0.25 percentage point rate hike at the October 28 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting fell to about 18% to 20%, from roughly 70% a week earlier, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
Long-term borrowing costs remain a headwind. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has traded between 5.26% and 5.34%, its highest level since 2002. Higher yields tend to reduce demand for assets that pay no interest, such as Bitcoin.
The Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its September FOMC meeting on Wednesday, October 7. Officials raised rates at that meeting, and the minutes may show how many policymakers still favor another hike this year. U.S. consumer price index (CPI) inflation data follows on October 14, ahead of the October 27 and 28 FOMC meeting.
Bitcoin Price Prediction: Key Support and Resistance Levels
Immediate support sits at $85,000 to $85,500, followed by $83,400 to $84,000 and then $82,500. On the upside, resistance lies at $86,700 to $87,000, then the yearly open near $87,570 to $87,720, and then the $90,000 short-liquidation cluster.
A daily close above $87,400 could open the way toward $90,000, where a wave of short covering is possible. A daily close below $82,500 would return Bitcoin to its earlier 2026 trading range.
Market sentiment remains ahead of price. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is still in “Greed” territory, while Bitcoin has yet to reclaim its 2026 open and ETF flows have just turned negative. Until spot demand returns, BTC may continue to trade inside the $85,000 to $87,000 band.
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