Selling pressure across United States trading desks pushed the cryptocurrency market through a steep weekend correction before Bitcoin stabilized near the $80,400 threshold on Sunday, October 25, 2026. The digital asset changed hands at $80,352 at 11:31 a.m. Brasilia time (10:31 a.m. Eastern Time), reclaiming ground above the $80,000 mark just one day after sliding to $79,146 on Saturday (24). That weekend bottom marked the lowest valuation recorded for the leading cryptocurrency in more than a month.
Thin weekend order books amplified the downward move below $80,000, triggering more than $810 million in forced liquidations of leveraged derivatives positions across digital asset exchanges within a 24-hour window, according to market tracking data compiled by the analytics platform Coinglass. Out of the total volume wiped out during the sell-off, approximately $689 million came from long positions held by traders betting on rising prices. The wave of automatic margin calls closed out accounts belonging to more than 200,000 individual market participants.
Technical support levels in focus ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee rate vote
Following the multi-day pullback, Bitcoin is on track to post its fourth consecutive daily decline and its first monthly loss since June, trading below its 50-day moving average positioned near $81,700. Market participants and technical analysts are now tracking primary downside support zones around $78,400 and $77,876 while waiting for central bank officials in Washington to set the trajectory of United States monetary policy.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC, the policy-making body of the Federal Reserve System responsible for setting benchmark interest rates in the United States) convenes its next two-day policy meeting on Tuesday (27) and Wednesday (28). During its previous gathering held on September 15 and September 16, 2026, the central bank led by Chairman Kevin Warsh raised the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage point, bringing the benchmark borrowing range to its current level of 3.75% to 4.00% per year. Higher interest rates typically strengthen the United States dollar and curb investor appetite for riskier assets, whereas a pause in monetary tightening tends to ease liquidity conditions for cryptocurrencies.
Pricing data from the CME FedWatch tool (a market indicator that calculates implied probabilities for central bank rate moves based on federal funds futures contracts) showed on Sunday (25) a 90.6% likelihood that policymakers will keep the target range unchanged between 3.75% and 4.00%, compared with a 9.4% probability of another 0.25 percentage point increase. Investor concerns regarding persistent inflationary pressures in the United States remain heightened by elevated energy costs, with international Brent crude oil trading above $117 per barrel amid the ongoing war in Iran.
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Spot exchange-traded funds lose $635.6 million while corporate preferred equity expands
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs, regulated investment vehicles whose shares trade on traditional stock exchanges and track the underlying asset price) listed in the United States recorded net weekly outflows of approximately $635.6 million, driven primarily by redemptions from products managed by BlackRock and Fidelity. Despite the weekly capital retreat, these regulated funds maintain cumulative historical net inflows of roughly $57 billion and hold approximately $106 billion in total assets under management.
Alongside traditional fund flows, publicly traded treasury companies have increasingly turned to issuing perpetual preferred stock (equity securities with no maturity date that pay fixed dividends to shareholders and rank ahead of common stock) to raise capital dedicated to acquiring Bitcoin. A research report published on Tuesday (20) by Fidelity Digital Assets research analyst Zack Wainwright revealed that these financing instruments funded the purchase of 135,979 Bitcoins — accounting for more than 0.5% of the cryptocurrency’s maximum supply — from the debut of the first such corporate product in July 2025 through October 5, 2026. Between March and May 2026 alone, corporate issuers raised more than $7 billion through preferred shares to acquire over 95,000 Bitcoins, including more than 22,000 units in March, over 48,000 in April, and nearly 25,000 in May.
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Fidelity Digital Assets estimates the current Bitcoin-focused preferred equity sector at roughly $12 billion within a global fixed-income market valued at approximately $150 trillion. While spot exchange-traded products accumulated 888,185 Bitcoins during their first full year of trading, the emergence of high-yield preferred shares absorbs supply at a moment when nearly 96% of all Bitcoin has already been mined and the next network halving is projected in less than two years. However, the legal obligation to pay recurring dividends to preferred shareholders has begun competing directly for corporate cash reserves.
“For issuers, the strategy only works if the appreciation of the underlying asset outpaces the cost of yield,” Zack Wainwright stated in the study released by Fidelity Digital Assets. Strategy (the corporate treasury firm formerly known as MicroStrategy) illustrated this capital allocation balance by spending $193 million to repurchase its own perpetual preferred shares (traded under the ticker symbol STRC) and expanding its authorized buyback ceiling to $3 billion, while separately allocating $22.1 million from common stock proceeds and cash to acquire 267 Bitcoins, lifting its total treasury holdings to 848,517 units. Meanwhile, Strive Inc. closed an offering on Tuesday (20) of 7 million Series A perpetual preferred shares (ticker symbol SATS) priced at $90 per share, generating $630 million in gross proceeds carrying a 15% annualized dividend calculated on a $100 par value, with regular dividend distributions scheduled to begin on November 9.
Within the private banking sector serving high-net-worth individuals, Xapo Bank Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Seamus Rocca stated that large-scale Bitcoin holders are increasingly choosing to borrow cash against their digital asset holdings and seek yield-generating strategies rather than selling their coins outright. According to the executive, steady capital allocation by institutional investors is positioned to sustain long-term demand despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and regulatory hurdles.
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Keystone Hardware Wallet discloses customer data breach as alternative tokens post mixed returns
In the digital asset custody and hardware infrastructure sector, Keystone Hardware Wallet (a manufacturer of air-gapped physical devices designed to store cryptocurrency cryptographic keys offline) announced on Saturday (24) that its official e-commerce website suffered an unauthorized intrusion on Tuesday (20). “We owe you an apology. On October 20, we detected unauthorized access to our official website. After verifying API activity with Shopify, we confirmed on October 23 that a third party obtained customer shipping information,” Keystone Hardware Wallet stated in an official disclosure.
The security breach exposed buyer names, contact details, physical delivery addresses, and order records detailing specific items purchased and prices paid. The manufacturer confirmed that private keys, recovery seed phrases, wallet passwords, bank account numbers, and payment card credentials were not compromised, and noted that its technical team blocked the unauthorized access, patched the underlying software vulnerability, opened an internal investigation, and began notifying affected buyers by email. Even so, the company warned customers to guard against targeted phishing attacks (fraudulent communications via email, text message, phone call, or physical mail impersonating company staff) offering fake refunds or replacement devices, while several buyers reported receiving breach notices for orders placed more than 180 days earlier despite the firm’s stated policy of automatically deleting shipping records after six months. Keystone Hardware Wallet has not yet disclosed the total number of customers affected or the exact historical date range of the compromised orders.
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While Bitcoin consolidated near the $80,400 level, alternative cryptocurrencies (commonly referred to in the market as altcoins) recorded mixed trading performance on Sunday (25):
- Ether (the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization): declined 0.49%, trading at $2,331.61;
- XRP (the third-largest digital asset): advanced 1.54% to reach $1.2930;
- Solana: gained 0.34%, changing hands at $100.721;
- BNB: rose 1.49% to trade at $737.80;
- Cardano: slipped 0.85% to settle at $0.2032;
- Dogecoin: recorded a daily gain of 0.57%;
- TRUMP (a meme-inspired digital token): climbed 1.12%, while Shiba Inu traded flat on the day.
The next directional catalyst for Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market is scheduled for Wednesday (28), when the Federal Reserve concludes its two-day monetary policy meeting and announces its official decision on the United States benchmark interest rate.
