Bitcoin opened Wednesday, Oct. 28, near $80,750 on Binance, after two days of reclaiming and then losing the $80,000 mark. The market is close to flat ahead of the Fed's rate decision, due later in the U.S. session, while ETF flows show a split between Bitcoin and Ether.
Bitcoin and Ether drift ahead of the Fed
On Oct. 27 Bitcoin briefly slipped below $80,000, down about 1.1% over 24 hours, before recovering toward $80,800. It is still roughly 2.5% lower on the week. Ether fell by a similar margin, while XRP bucked the trend after Ripple received final approval for a U.S. national trust bank.
Equities are outpacing crypto. The Nasdaq rose more than 1% in the previous session, and capital is flowing into AI: Meta announced a $95 billion raise and Anthropic filed for an IPO, with reports that it could seek up to $100 billion. That is nearly $200 billion pointed at AI rather than crypto, one reason Bitcoin has not matched the rally in tech shares.
On macro, CME's FedWatch tool shows about a 90% chance the Fed holds rates. Traders care more about the signal for year-end: a weekend analyst report put the odds of a December hike near 72%. On Oct. 29 the U.S. also releases its third-quarter GDP estimate and September PCE inflation.
Futures: positioning still leans long
Derivatives data for Oct. 27 shows crypto futures volume up 18% to $152 billion, while open interest, the total value of outstanding contracts, rose only about 0.95%. Liquidations fell 13% to $133 million, so there was no major flush. Market buy and sell orders were nearly balanced at 49.5% to 50.5%.
Open interest in Bitcoin, Ether and Solana rose about 1%, 0.8% and 3.6% even as prices fell, meaning fresh money opened positions into the dip. Funding stayed positive for all three, so longs have not left. In options, Bitcoin's 25-delta put-call skew remained positive across tenors, a sign of demand for downside protection, and the $72,000 put expiring Dec. 25 was the most traded contract over 24 hours.
Another analyst report showed aggregate Bitcoin futures open interest climbing from 645,411 BTC on Oct. 21 to 669,253 BTC on Oct. 25 while price declined. Positions that build during weakness can amplify moves if price turns quickly in either direction.
ETF flows: Bitcoin takes in, Ether sees outflows
On Oct. 26, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in a net $110.3 million, all of it from BlackRock's IBIT, with every other fund flat. That ended two sessions of outflows totaling about $774 million. Net assets across Bitcoin ETFs stand near $102.8 billion.
Ether ETFs, by contrast, shed $88.6 million the same day: BlackRock's ETHA lost $104.7 million while Fidelity's FETH gained $16.1 million. Solana ETFs had $8.2 million in net outflows and XRP funds $3.6 million. Figures for Oct. 27 had not been published.
Notable overnight news
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Ripple's Swell conference that digital assets are part of the U.S.-China technology contest and will help reinforce the dollar. He said Treasury could work with the SEC and CFTC to clarify rules after the market-structure bill failed, and set safeguards against banks cutting off crypto firms.
In tokenized equities, Intel, Oracle, IBM and IonQ objected to their shares trading on the OKX-ICE venture, bringing the total number of objecting companies to 26. The SEC's exemption gives issuers 30 days to opt out, so the count may keep rising.
Ripple and Robinhood also deepened their tie-up: the RLUSD stablecoin, with a market cap above $2.5 billion, is live on Robinhood Chain and Bitstamp and is due to reach the Robinhood app, which has 28.6 million funded customers, later this year.
What it means for traders
The Fed is the nearest volatility trigger. A hold is almost fully priced in, so the reaction usually comes from the tone on the path toward year-end rather than the decision itself. With open interest higher than early in the week and funding still positive, a hawkish signal could force long liquidations; a softer tone could squeeze shorts.
Watch ETF flows as well: Bitcoin had one inflow day driven by a single fund, while Ether is bleeding. If that skew persists, institutional demand is not broad enough to lead price. Liquidations of only $133 million yesterday mean leverage has not been cleared out, so the risk of sudden swings remains. Use our position and liquidation calculator to check risk before opening a trade, and see the exchange ranking to compare futures fees. This is information only, not trading advice.