Bitcoin slips below $80,000 as Fed week starts; ETH, XRP lag

Bitcoin started the week just below $80,000 as traders trimmed risk ahead of Wednesday's Federal Reserve decision. CoinGecko showed BTC at about $79,970 at 07:36 UTC on Monday, down 0.7% over 24 hours, after it lost the $80,000 mark during the Asian session, CoinDesk reports.

Majors: ether and XRP lead the losses

• Ether fell nearly 3% to just above $2,300, according to CoinDesk data.
• XRP also lost about 3%, to $1.28.
• SOL slid about 2% and was hovering around $100.
• DOGE, ZEC, HYPE and BNB were down 1%–2%; TRX was the only major in the green, up less than 1%.

The price snapshot above is taken from CoinGecko at build time and may differ from live quotes.

All eyes on the Fed

The Fed announces its decision on Wednesday. Markets do not expect a change in rates this week; the focus is on whether Chair Kevin Warsh hints at a hike in December. "While the Fed probably won't change rates this week, we're watching how strongly the chair hints at a December hike — that's what matters for crypto," Jeff Mei, COO of the exchange BTSE, told CoinDesk. Higher rates make borrowing dearer and tend to pull money out of risk assets. Our week-ahead calendar lists the other events, from PCE inflation to Friday's options expiry.

Macro backdrop

• AI selloff in Asia: South Korea's Kospi fell about 1% after Goldman Sachs strategists cut their 12-month target for the index by 25%, and chip stocks led losses in Tokyo. Big US tech companies report earnings this week.
• Oil: Brent eased about 2% from a six-month high to around $114 a barrel after President Donald Trump said it was "getting to be decision time" on a deal with Iran.

Levels traders are watching

CoinDesk notes that bitcoin would need to reclaim about $82,500, the floor it lost last Thursday, before buyers can call this week's dip a pause. It is the second test of this zone in three days: on Saturday bitcoin touched $79,146 amid $810 million of liquidations before bouncing to about $80,900 on Sunday; if you trade with leverage, our explainer on how liquidation works shows how fast positions can be closed in moves like this.