Bitcoin Drops Below $73K as Hot US Inflation Fuels Fed Rate Hike Fears

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' October consumer price index rose 0.4% month on month, above the 0.3% economists expected, and it landed without the usual 12-month reading. Bitcoin fell below $73,000 after the print, with long positions across crypto taking most of the damage.

• US October inflation came in hotter than expected, and Bitcoin fell below $73,000.
• October CPI rose 0.4% month on month against a 0.3% forecast, the third straight month the print beat expectations.
• The Fed's final 2026 meeting runs December 8-9, and the next CPI report lands December 10, after the rate decision.

October CPI Beats Again, Without a 12-Month Reading

Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.3% against a 0.2% forecast, the third consecutive month that US inflation came in hotter than expected. The October release carries a gap: it notes that October 2025 data values are not available because of the 2025 lapse in appropriations, so there is no year-on-year comparison for this October.

Inside the month, food prices rose 0.5%, energy 0.7% and shelter 0.3%, with shelter accounting for more than 30% of the headline increase. Recreation costs rose 0.8%, motor vehicle insurance 0.7% and medical care 0.3%.

Bitcoin Slips Toward $72,700

Bitcoin traded near $74,200 before the release and briefly dropped to about $73,525 right after. BTC is currently trading at $72,225, down 1.9% in the last 24 hours.

The asset had already lost roughly 9% over the seven days before the report. Ethereum slipped toward $2,040 during the initial selloff, while one read had it holding above the $2,000 support level.

Longs Took the Losses, and the Totals Vary

Liquidation figures for the 24 hours around the print depend on the count. One tally put total crypto liquidations near $742 million, with more than $571 million from longs, while the same page's opening paragraph said more than $723 million. A second count, taken at 11:35 a.m. ET on Tuesday, put the total above $632 million, with more than $511 million in longs. A third said about $178 million in long positions were liquidated within an hour of the release.

On the breakdown, Ethereum carried the largest long liquidations at $261.16 million, ahead of Bitcoin's $207.11 million, with more than 115,000 traders affected.

The Fed Decides on December 9, Before November CPI

The Fed's final 2026 policy meeting runs December 8-9, and the next CPI report arrives December 10. The December decision will be made without November's consumer inflation data in hand. The benchmark rate sits between 3.75% and 4%, and a 50-basis-point increase would lift that range to 4.25%-4.50%.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller argued for a bigger move: "I believe a 50 basis point hike in the policy rate should be considered at the December meeting."

Pricing leaned the other way. The implied probability of a 25-basis-point December increase climbed to 85% from 77%, while analysts put the odds of a half-point move near 15%. Expectations of further tightening have been building for weeks, with futures pricing further hikes.

What to Watch After the Print

Two flow figures frame the institutional picture, both unchecked against fund-level data: US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $201 million in net withdrawals on the Monday before the report, and outflows approached $750 million on October 23 and again in early November, with nearly $1.28 billion pulled from Bitcoin investment products.

On the chart, $72,700 is the level the selloff is testing. One technical read puts $58,581 as the next support below it, with a recovery back above $75,000 opening the $82,000-$85,000 zone.

The Fed decides on December 9 without November's inflation data in hand; that data arrives on December 10. Our week-ahead preview lays out the rest of the calendar.