Bitcoin's Overnight Round Trip to $85,000 Ends Below $82,000

Bitcoin gave back its midweek bounce in a matter of hours. The largest cryptocurrency pushed close to $85,000 late Wednesday, then slid to roughly $81,800 by early Thursday, a swing of about $3,000 in less than a day.

Where prices stood

Yahoo Finance reported bitcoin opened Thursday at $84,024.44 and had fallen to $81,809.90 by 7:15 a.m. ET. Ether dropped from an open of $2,471.35 to $2,400.36 over the same window. CoinDesk had bitcoin at $81,650 at 8:15 a.m. ET.

Traders caught on both sides

Citing CoinGlass data, CoinDesk said about $431 million in leveraged positions were forcibly closed over 24 hours. Roughly $173 million of that hit short sellers on the way up. On the way down, bullish bets took most of the damage. A liquidation happens when an exchange closes a borrowed-money position because the trader can no longer cover losses.

Why the mood turned

The slide lined up with a broader retreat from risk. Brent crude topped $112 a barrel on new attacks in the Gulf region, South Korea's Kospi fell about 3.5%, and U.S. tech futures dropped after weak outlooks from Tesla and Lam Research, according to CoinDesk and Yahoo Finance. Yahoo noted that higher oil feeds inflation worries, which tends to make speculative assets less attractive.

What to watch

CoinDesk said some market watchers view $82,500 as a key level for bitcoin. Before this week, bitcoin had dipped under $80,000 during a mid-October slide, so traders are watching whether the latest pullback holds above that zone.