Bitget analyst Lewis Huang marked the line before the print, saying “$76,270 is an important technical support level.” Bitcoin is now less than $800 above it.
Brent crude ripped above $107 a barrel, up more than 6%, with West Texas Intermediate near $102, an energy shock that feeds straight into the inflation data the Fed is watching. The 10-year Treasury yield pushed toward 5% and the two-year above 4.5%.
Gold slipped toward $4,330, the dollar index firmed near 99, and the S&P 500 closed lower at about 7,594, a fourth straight decline. Asian equity futures followed, with Japan down nearly 2%, Korea more than 3% and Hong Kong close to 1%.
Higher real yields drain crypto through two channels at once. They make government debt competitive with an asset that pays nothing, and they raise the cost of carrying leverage.
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs are already showing it, with $120 million of outflows on Wednesday, more than double Tuesday’s, while ether, $XRP and solana funds all took in money the same day.
August CPI lands at 8:30 a.m. ET, with headline inflation expected at 3.4% year over year and core at 2.4%. Interest rate futures put the odds of a hike at the Sept. 15-16 meeting near 70%, up from roughly a coin flip two weeks ago.