Bitcoin (BTC) Rallies After October PPI Cools to 0.3%

October PPI Cools to 0.3%

US producer inflation cooled more than expected on Friday, and the Bitcoin (BTC) price answered with its sharpest intraday recovery in days. The October Producer Price Index, detailed in the official report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rose 0.3% month over month against a 0.4% forecast, while the annual rate printed 6.5% instead of the 6.6% economists had penciled in. Core PPI, which excludes food and energy, matched its 0.3% consensus and held at 5% year over year.

The relief carried weight because the market had braced for worse. September’s index was revised up to a 1.4% monthly gain, and Tuesday’s consumer price report beat expectations at 0.4%, pushing the dollar to a 19-month high. Goods prices added 0.5% in October, driven by food and basic organic chemicals, while services rose 0.2% for a fifth consecutive month. Annual producer inflation now stands at its highest level since November 2022, up from 6.3% in September.

Bitcoin (BTC) had slid to its lowest level since August before the release, dipping below $69,000 as Ethereum lost more than 6% and fell under $2,000, with Solana, BNB and XRP all losing ground as investors cut exposure to riskier assets. The print reversed that move quickly: BTC climbed back toward $70,000, and derivatives data shows roughly $39 million in short positions liquidated within the hour. US stock index futures firmed, Treasury yields eased and the dollar gave back part of its post-CPI advance. The bounce has since cooled, and COINOTAG’s live monitoring puts Bitcoin at $69,168, up 0.1% since the release window but still 3.5% lower over 24 hours. Swyftx lead analyst Pav Hundal had framed the report as a possible turning point, writing on November 12 that “a softer reading could start the dollar unwind and ease the selling bias on bitcoin.”

A $52 Million Short Minutes Before the Print

Leveraged traders had crowded the other way before the data landed. More than $1.4 billion in crypto futures and margin trading positions were liquidated across the market over the 24 hours to Friday, and roughly 83% of that total came from longs forced out as the selloff deepened.

Derivatives positioning shows one crypto whale placed a pointed bet minutes before the release: a $52 million short on Hyperliquid, sized at 750 Bitcoin (BTC) with an average entry near $69,008 and an estimated liquidation price of $70,986. The trade spread across X as traders questioned whether its owner expected another leg down, and the rebound toward $70,000 left the position within roughly $1,000 of that line. Open interest data shows leveraged exposure had built up through the week of decline.

The wider liquidity picture added pressure. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $299.8 million in net withdrawals on November 11, and Ethereum funds lost another $144.8 million. Stablecoin supply contracted by $14.2 billion over the 30 days through November 9, the largest such decline since June 2022, thinning the cash buffer that usually absorbs forced selling. Attention now shifts to the Federal Reserve’s December meeting: the central bank held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4.00% in October, and investors remain split on whether officials lift by 25 or 50 basis points. BTSE chief operating officer Jeff Mei warned that a 50-basis-point move, rather than the expected 25, would leave “Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies” with more room to fall.

Extreme Fear Persists Into December

COINOTAG’s aggregate market data shows how little the relief changed. Our Fear & Greed Index stands at 20 of 100, deep in extreme fear, while capital retreats from altcoins toward Bitcoin, which now holds 68.5% of the $2.03 trillion COINOTAG-tracked universe, a defensive concentration that appears when risk appetite drains. The longer horizon matches: the weekly MACD histogram turned negative before this week’s slide, and options volatility sits near 40.8, half the norm for a drawdown of this size, so the market priced calm rather than capitulation. Our Bitcoin technical analysis page tracks the $69,000–$70,000 band as the near-term battleground, and the $70,986 whale liquidation line is the level leveraged shorts must defend first.