What's up with Uptober? Crypto market corrects again

Red numbers are dominating the crypto market again today.

Red numbers are dominating the crypto market again today. Yet long-term investors see this as a welcome entry point.

The crypto market remains under the fallout from the biggest liquidation event in its history. Also on the morning of October 17, all major cryptocurrencies were in the red.

Bitcoin sits at $108,766, down 2.1% from yesterday. Ethereum has fallen below $4,000, trading at $3,909. Solana (SOL) is also lower at $186, down 3.3% from the day before.

The backdrop to the new wave of selling lies in rising concerns about the health of the US credit market. The S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index fell 6.3% on Thursday, the biggest drop since the April sell-off sparked by import tariffs. Zions Bancorp shares shed as much as 13% after a $50 million write-down tied to a loan from its subsidiary California Bank & Trust.

In its wake, all major US stock indices fell. Before the market opened, the S&P 500 was down 0.63% and the Nasdaq down 0.47%. Only the safe haven gold managed to gain ground again: a troy ounce of gold was trading at $4,360 at press time.

Bitcoin bulls are now hoping for support from the US central bank (the Fed). Further rate cuts seem likely given the credit-market issues, which could be favorable for risk assets like Bitcoin.

For now, fear dominates. The Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index sits at 28, indicating fear. Institutional investors are also trimming risk exposure, shown by the outflow of capital from Bitcoin ETFs: on Thursday, October 16, $530 million flowed out of Bitcoin index funds.

In the medium term, analysts see a bull case for Bitcoin in the gold rally.

“I’ve raised my price targets for this BTC cycle to $182,000 to $300,000,” View post on X, referring to the extraordinary rise in gold.