Last Updated: October 24, 2026
Bitcoin is trading near $80,500 on Saturday, October 24, after a weekend sell-off briefly took it below $80,000 to its lowest price since mid-September, as US embassy staff cuts in the Middle East and oil above $116 a barrel pushed investors out of risky assets. Here is today’s BTC price, the levels that matter and what is driving the market.
Key Takeaways
BTC trades at approximately $80,493, down 0.87% over the past 24 hours and 1.22% over the past week, with a market capitalization of about $1.62 trillion, according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin’s share of the crypto market stands close to 60%, and the price is about 36.2% below the record of $126,080 set on October 6, 2025.
Saturday’s drop came from geopolitics and oil rather than crypto-specific news. The State Department said late Friday that it is reducing staff at its embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, citing threats from Yemen’s Houthis, and Brent crude rose above $116 a barrel on Friday, its highest level since June 2022, The Associated Press reported. Bitcoin slid through $80,000 to about $79,263, and about $200 million of leveraged positions were liquidated in less than an hour, according to The Kobeissi Letter.
ETF selling continued. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of about $635.6 million on Thursday, October 22, their largest since June, and another $137.9 million on Friday, according to Farside Investors. BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for $110.3 million of Friday’s outflow and Fidelity’s FBTC for $31.8 million.
Corporate buyers are still accumulating. Tesla’s Bitcoin hoard rose 43% in the third quarter to about $962 million without a single sale, Strategy holds 848,517 BTC after adding 267 in the week to October 18, and Strive holds 36,818 BTC. The Federal Reserve’s next decision lands on October 28, with US third-quarter GDP and September PCE inflation due the next day.
Metrics
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Price | ~$80,493 |
| 24h Range | $79,263 to $81,410 |
| 24h Trading Volume | ~$23.6 billion |
| Market Cap | ~$1.62 trillion |
| All-Time High | $126,080 (October 6, 2025) |
| ATH Drop | -36.2% |
| Circulating Supply | ~20.10 million BTC |
Data: CoinGecko, October 24, 2026.
Price Analysis
Bitcoin broke below $80,000, the floor of its October range, on Saturday and fell to about $79,263, its lowest price since mid-September, before buyers lifted it back to about $80,500. The slide began after Wednesday’s rally stalled near $84,808 and Thursday’s risk-off move took BTC to about $80,989. BTC now trades below both its 50-day moving average, near $81,800, and its 20-day average, near $82,600, based on CoinGecko daily closes.
The setup has tilted toward sellers. Buyers defended $80,000 for most of October, but the weekend break showed how quickly that floor can give way when oil and geopolitics turn. For the day’s full news flow, see Bitcoin news today; for market-wide data, crypto market today; and for regulatory and industry stories, crypto news today.
Support and Resistance
| Level | Price |
|---|---|
| Resistance 2 | $84,800 |
| Resistance 1 | $81,800 |
| Current Price | ~$80,493 |
| Support 1 | $79,263 |
| Support 2 | $75,000 |
What Could Happen Next
Bullish scenario: a daily close back above the 50-day average near $81,800 would turn Saturday’s drop into a failed breakdown and reopen the 20-day average near $82,600, then the $84,350 to $84,800 zone from Wednesday. That would most likely need ETF inflows to resume and a Federal Reserve decision on October 28 that does not add to fears of another hike.
Base scenario: BTC trades between about $79,263 and $81,800 into the Fed meeting, with $80,000 acting as a pivot. This is the most likely path while ETF flows, oil prices and Middle East headlines swing from day to day.
Bearish scenario: a daily close below $79,263 would confirm the break of the October range and expose $75,000, where the September 15 sell-off ended. Another day of ETF outflows or a new escalation in the Middle East would make that path more likely.
For year-end and long-term targets from banks, models and prediction markets, see our Bitcoin price prediction.
Why Is Bitcoin Trending Today
Bitcoin is trending lower with the rest of the crypto market after a weekend break below $80,000.
Why Did Crypto Drop Today?
Crypto dropped today because Bitcoin broke below $80,000, the floor of its October range, as the United States cut embassy staff across the Middle East and oil climbed above $116 a barrel. BTC fell to about $79,263 on Saturday, its lowest price since mid-September, and the total crypto market is worth about $2.7 trillion. Four forces drove the move:
- Middle East tension: the State Department said late Friday that it is reducing staff at its embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, citing threats from Yemen’s Houthis, two days after ordering nonessential personnel to leave Saudi Arabia, The Associated Press reported.
- Oil and inflation: Brent crude rose 3.1% on Friday to above $116 a barrel, its highest level since June 2022, adding to inflation that was already running at 3.7% a year in September.
- ETF outflows: US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost about $635.6 million on Thursday and $137.9 million on Friday, according to Farside Investors, removing one of the main sources of demand this month.
- Leverage and thin weekend trading: about $200 million of leveraged positions were liquidated in less than an hour as Bitcoin fell through $80,000, according to The Kobeissi Letter, and lighter weekend volume amplified the move.
By the evening (UTC), Bitcoin had recovered to about $80,500, trimming its 24-hour loss to less than 1%. Our full report on why crypto is down today covers each driver, and why Bitcoin is down today tracks the BTC-specific picture.
Corporate buying is the counterweight. Tesla’s third-quarter filing shows a $962 million Bitcoin treasury with no sales, while Strategy and Strive kept adding in small amounts and the Mt. Gox trustee pushed the estate’s repayment deadline to October 2027, removing a supply overhang.
Altcoins swung harder. Ether is down about 2% over 24 hours, as covered in Ethereum news today, while XRP held up better, slipping less than 1% (XRP news today). NEAR Protocol lost about 5% and Cardano, Chainlink and Dogecoin 2% to 3%. For other moves, see Dogecoin’s price page, Zcash news today and HBAR news today.
What Is Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency, launched in January 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. It runs on a peer-to-peer network secured by proof-of-work mining, with no central issuer. The supply is capped at 21 million coins, and the reward miners receive for each block halves roughly every four years; the last halving, in April 2024, cut it to 3.125 BTC, and the next is expected around April 2028.
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and the main asset held by spot ETFs, public companies and, through forfeited coins, the US government’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Top Factors Affecting Bitcoin’s Price
ETF flows: US spot Bitcoin ETFs hold more than $100 billion in net assets, and daily flows of several hundred million dollars in either direction now move the market.
Federal Reserve policy: with inflation at 3.7% and the Fed raising rates, real yields and the dollar are working against Bitcoin; any signal of a pause would be a tailwind.
Corporate treasuries: public companies hold about 1.29 million BTC. Strategy is still buying, but it sold about 6,950 BTC this summer, and MSCI’s index decision adds pressure on the sector.
Supply and the halving cycle: about 899,000 BTC remain to be mined. The next halving, around April 2028, will cut new supply to about 225 BTC a day.
Derivatives and leverage: futures positioning drives many short-term moves, and leverage can amplify sell-offs, as Saturday’s liquidations below $80,000 showed.
Regulation: the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate in September, leaving US market structure rules unresolved until the next Congress.
Technology risk: the debate over quantum-resistant signatures has intensified after new results from Google’s Willow chip and the launch of the Quantum Alliance, although no existing quantum computer can break Bitcoin’s cryptography today.
Bitcoin vs. Other Major Cryptocurrencies
| Asset | Price | 24h | 7d |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | $80,493 | -0.87% | -1.22% |
| Ethereum | $2,343.67 | -1.98% | -3.14% |
| XRP | $1.29 | -0.81% | -0.72% |
| BNB | $731.18 | -1.31% | +2.04% |
| Solana | $101.45 | -1.84% | -2.61% |
| TRON | $0.3292 | -0.25% | -1.56% |
Over the past week, Bitcoin’s 1.2% loss is smaller than Ether’s 3.1% and Solana’s 2.6% declines, while XRP has slipped only 0.7%. BNB is the only one of the six in positive territory over seven days, up about 2%.
Top 10 Cryptocurrencies by Market Cap Today
| Coin | Price (24h Change) | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bitcoin (BTC) | $80,493 (-0.87%) | $1.62T |
| 2. Ethereum (ETH) | $2,343.67 (-1.98%) | $286.3B |
| 3. Tether (USDT) | $0.9992 (0.00%) | $182.5B |
| 4. BNB | $731.18 (-1.31%) | $96.2B |
| 5. XRP | $1.29 (-0.81%) | $81.5B |
| 6. USD Coin (USDC) | $0.9996 (-0.01%) | $71.6B |
| 7. Solana (SOL) | $101.45 (-1.84%) | $59.8B |
| 8. TRON (TRX) | $0.3292 (-0.25%) | $31.3B |
| 9. Zcash (ZEC) | $1,207.77 (-1.23%) | $20.5B |
| 10. Hyperliquid (HYPE) | $76.29 (-0.96%) | $17.0B |
Ranked by market capitalization on CoinGecko at about 20:00 UTC on October 24, 2026. The list leaves out Figure HELOC (FIGR_HELOC), a tokenized home-equity loan product on the Provenance blockchain that CoinGecko ranks ninth by value but that trades only about $8 million a day.
Most Traded Cryptocurrencies by 24h Volume
Tether is by far the most traded crypto asset, with about $40.2 billion of volume over the past 24 hours, because it sits on one side of most trades on centralized exchanges. Bitcoin follows with about $23.6 billion, and total crypto trading volume stands near $63 billion, according to CoinGecko. NEAR Protocol, only the 21st-largest coin by market value, ranks ninth by volume after a drop of about 5%.
| Coin | 24h Volume | 24h Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tether (USDT) | $40.2B | 0.00% |
| 2. Bitcoin (BTC) | $23.6B | -0.87% |
| 3. Ethereum (ETH) | $9.8B | -1.98% |
| 4. USD Coin (USDC) | $7.6B | -0.01% |
| 5. Solana (SOL) | $2.58B | -1.84% |
| 6. XRP | $1.39B | -0.81% |
| 7. BNB | $842M | -1.31% |
| 8. Hyperliquid (HYPE) | $830M | -0.96% |
| 9. NEAR Protocol (NEAR) | $759M | -5.17% |
| 10. Zcash (ZEC) | $675M | -1.23% |
Data: CoinGecko, about 20:00 UTC on October 24, 2026.
Summary
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Current Price | ~$80,493 |
| Key Resistance | $81,800 |
| Key Support | $79,263 |
| Market Sentiment | Neutral (Fear & Greed 46) |
Compare Crypto Prices Today
| Asset | Live Price |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin | Bitcoin Price |
| Ethereum | Ethereum Price |
| XRP | XRP Price |
| Solana | Solana Price |
| BNB | BNB Price |
| TRON | Tron Price |
Where to Buy Bitcoin
BTC is available on all major exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, KuCoin, Gate.io, OKX and Bybit. US investors can also hold Bitcoin through spot ETFs such as BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. For long-term holdings, move coins to a hardware wallet you control.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
FAQ
What is the current price of Bitcoin?
Bitcoin trades at about $80,493 on October 24, 2026, down 0.87% over 24 hours and 1.22% over the past week, according to CoinGecko. Its market capitalization is about $1.62 trillion, and it accounts for close to 60% of the total crypto market. The 24-hour range runs from about $79,263 to $81,410, and about $23.6 billion of BTC has traded over the past day.
What is Bitcoin’s all-time high?
Bitcoin’s all-time high is $126,080, set on October 6, 2025, according to CoinGecko; CoinMarketCap lists $126,198. At about $80,493, BTC trades 36.2% below that record. The peak came about 17.5 months after the April 2024 halving, and the price fell to about $57,800 on July 1, 2026 before recovering to current levels.
Why is Bitcoin moving today?
Bitcoin broke below $80,000 on Saturday and fell to about $79,263, its lowest price since mid-September. The US cut staff at several Middle East embassies amid threats from Iran and the Houthis, Brent crude rose above $116 a barrel, and US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost about $773 million on Thursday and Friday. BTC has since recovered to about $80,500.
What is the key resistance level for Bitcoin right now?
The first key resistance is about $81,800, the 50-day moving average, just above the 24-hour high of about $81,410. A daily close above it would turn the weekend drop into a failed breakdown and open the 20-day average near $82,600. Above that, the $84,350 to $84,800 zone, where Wednesday’s rally stalled, is the next target for buyers.
What is the key support level for Bitcoin right now?
The first key support is about $79,263, Saturday’s low, just below the $80,000 floor that held for most of October. A daily close below it would confirm the breakdown and expose $75,000, where the September 15 sell-off ended. Holding above $80,000 on a closing basis would suggest the drop was a weekend shakeout rather than the start of a new downtrend.
Is Bitcoin a good investment right now?
That depends on your risk tolerance and time horizon. Supporters point to more than $100 billion held in US spot ETFs, a fixed supply of 21 million coins and the next halving in 2028. Skeptics note that the Federal Reserve is raising rates, ETF flows swing sharply and Bitcoin was 54% below its record at its July low. Only invest money you can afford to lose.
