Bitcoin Slips Under $80,000 Ahead of Friday's Options Expiry

Bitcoin fell below $80,000 late Wednesday and was near $79,700 at 12:05 a.m. ET Thursday, down 1.6% in 24 hours, per CoinGecko. Ether was down 2.3% at about $2,300.

The round number has some history this fall. CoinGecko's daily price series last had bitcoin under $80,000 on Sept. 17, near $76,400.

Friday's expiry edges out Christmas

On Deribit, options on about 135,600 BTC expire Friday, Oct. 30, at 8 a.m. UTC (4 a.m. ET), the exchange's data showed at midnight ET. That's roughly $10.8 billion. The Dec. 25 expiry is almost as big, smaller by fewer than 300 BTC.

An option is the right to buy (a call) or sell (a put) at a set price by a set date. Friday's batch holds about 88,900 BTC in calls and 46,700 in puts. By Black Mint's calculation from Deribit's open interest, the strike where those contracts would pay out the least is $78,000.

Not all the flows went one way

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in a net $137.3 million on Wednesday, Farside Investors data show. That same day, the Federal Reserve held rates at 3.75% to 4%, with two officials voting for a hike.

Sentiment barely moved. The crypto Fear & Greed Index read 51, labeled "neutral," at midnight.

In our opinion: a 1.6% slip only makes noise because of the zeros. The number worth chasing settles Friday at 4 a.m. ET.