Bitcoin Closes Its Worst October in 12 Years as Stocks and Gold Fall
Bitcoin ended October near $77,558, down about 7.3% from its $83,554 open. That is its weakest October since 2014. A sell-off in US tech stocks and gold added to losses from a record exchange hack.
Bitcoin traded near $77,800 on Sunday, November 1. The monthly low was $76,314.
What Happened on Friday
Intel warned on Thursday that fourth-quarter sales would miss expectations. Its shares fell nearly 30% at Friday’s open. The Nasdaq Composite dropped to about 25,500, its lowest level since early August, and closed the day down 2.9%.
JPMorgan said renewed fears over AI monetization would keep pushing investors out of tech. The Nasdaq now sits 7.8% below its October 6 record close.
Gold fell with stocks. It touched $3,891 per ounce, its weakest price in a year. Brent crude settled above $117 a barrel, which adds inflation pressure at a time when markets already doubt rate cuts.
The Binance Hack
Bitcoin’s worst day came before the stock sell-off. On Thursday, October 29, hackers took about $6.3 billion from Binance, the largest crypto exchange. It is the biggest theft in crypto history. Bitcoin lost 4.3% that day.
The FBI linked the attack to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. Crypto firms froze more than $3 billion of the stolen funds. Binance says it has replenished about 90% of the losses and will absorb customer damage.
The hack triggered roughly $1.5 billion in liquidations. Long positions made up 79% of them. Bitcoin futures open interest reached a five-week high of 686,000 BTC, so many traders were leveraged long when the price broke.
How October Went Wrong
October is known as “Uptober.” Since 2013, Bitcoin has averaged a gain of about 20% in the month. Only 2014 and 2018 closed red before 2025.
Last year set the pattern. Bitcoin hit a record near $126,000 in early October 2025. A record liquidation event on October 10 and 11 then erased much of that rally. The month closed down 3.95%.
Bitcoin never recovered that high. It fell into the mid-$80,000s and its 12-month peak since then is $86,603, set on September 21, 2026. This October opened below that level, so the new losses came from a market that was already weak.
Bitcoin now trades about 38% below its all-time high. The 7.3% drop is far smaller than the 13% loss in October 2014. Still, a second red October in a row is rare.
Sentiment and Flows Turned Fast
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index fell from 70 on October 4 to 36 on October 30. The market moved from greed to fear in under four weeks.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $643.3 million on October 30, their largest daily outflow of the month. That ended four straight days of inflows. Cumulative net inflows slipped to about $57 billion from a peak of $57.8 billion.
The outflow is small against the fund total. It does show institutional buyers are not stepping in to absorb the selling.
Arguments for a Rebound
Bitcoin did hold above $76,000 on Friday, and Binance’s repayment lowers the risk of a forced sell-off by the exchange. If the stolen funds stay frozen or recovered, the hack’s direct cost to users shrinks.
November has been Bitcoin’s strongest month historically, with an average gain above 40% since 2013. Past patterns are not a forecast, though. Previous large drops in the Fear and Greed Index were followed by lower prices 30 days later.
QCP Capital said macro conditions, tech fears and the Binance hack created “a period of heightened market repricing.” It named tech spending guidance as the key variable for AI sentiment.
Levels to Watch
Bitfinex analysts name $75,000 as key support. A sustained recovery needs a move back above $80,000, where Bitcoin traded between October 24 and the hack.
The Nasdaq is a second driver. Bitcoin has moved with tech stocks through this sell-off, and gold’s fall removed the idea that it was acting as a safe haven.
Further tech earnings and capital spending guidance will set the tone for risk assets in early November. A clean recovery in stocks would help Bitcoin. Another AI-driven sell-off would test the $75,000 level.
