Bitcoin holds near $81,000 after dipping to a one-month low

Bitcoin was trading at about $US81,600 at 1pm AEDT on Sunday 18 October, up about 0.3% over 24 hours, according to CoinDesk price data. It briefly fell to about $80,000 earlier in the week, its lowest level since 18 September, according to Investing.com and Stocktwits.

Investing.com reported that bitcoin reached a weekly high above $84,000 before falling back, as stronger US economic data added to expectations of further interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve.

US spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $82.39 million in net outflows on 16 October, Investing.com reported, citing data from Coinfomania. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for $71.78 million of that. Flows were mixed during the week, including about $175.7 million of inflows on 13 October and about $261.4 million of outflows on 14 October.

Adam Lynch, director of equity research at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, said leverage had made recent price swings sharper, Stocktwits reported. He said progress on crypto legislation in Washington could “grind to a halt” if the November midterm elections change who controls Congress, but said he was still “somewhat optimistic” about a bipartisan deal.

Ether traded at about $2,418 on Saturday, according to Investing.com. Stocktwits reported that ether is down about 18% this year, compared with about 7% for bitcoin.

Charles Schwab began offering direct bitcoin purchases to all eligible retail clients on Friday, Stocktwits reported.