Bitcoin holds above $80,000 as Kospi plunge drags altcoins lower

Bitcoin briefly traded just above $80,000 early Thursday before buyers stepped in, while South Korea's Kospi slumped roughly 7.5–8% and dragged most major altcoins lower, according to CoinDesk and Cointelegraph market reports.

Price action

CoinDesk said bitcoin fell to just above $80,000 around 02:30 UTC — close to the 8 October low near $80,300 — then recovered to about $81,200, down roughly 0.5% since midnight UTC. Cointelegraph, citing TradingView/Bitstamp, put the session low near $80,154, a level last seen around 20 September.

Ether was down about 2.0% near $2,370. The CoinDesk 80 index slid 2.2%, while the bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5 lost around 0.7%. All but six members of the CoinDesk 100 were lower; CoinDesk flagged pump.fun down 9.4% as one of the steeper CD100 declines.

Asia sets the tone

South Korea's Kospi plunged about 8% and triggered circuit breakers in CoinDesk's account; Cointelegraph put the close at 7.5% lower, at 5,554 points — the weakest daily finish since 8 April, with week-to-date losses near 15.5%. Tech names led: SK Hynix about −11%, Samsung Electronics about −9.5%. Nasdaq 100 futures were down roughly 1%, extending Wednesday's 1.9% drop in the Nasdaq Composite.

Macro backdrop

Wednesday's hotter U.S. September CPI (3.7% year on year) had briefly lifted odds of an October Fed hike toward nearly 47% on CME FedWatch; by Thursday morning those odds had eased to about 26%, CoinDesk reported. Crypto futures liquidations had already jumped toward $1 billion in the prior 24 hours after the inflation print.

The price snapshot on this page reflects our latest build from CoinGecko, not a live quote. This is market reporting, not investment advice.