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Bitcoin hit $83,900 during Thursday morning trading hours in Asia. That’s a slide of more than 2% in a single day, after a brief run up to nearly $87,300 just hours before.
The timing wasn’t random. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield closed Wednesday at 5.11%, jumping 15 basis points in one session. That’s a brutal single-day move for a benchmark rate, and markets felt it fast. When yields climb like that, the math on holding non-yielding assets like bitcoin gets ugly pretty quickly. Borrowing costs rise, leveraged positions become harder to justify, and money tends to rotate toward instruments that actually pay something. Bitcoin doesn’t. So traders sold.
Altcoins Got Hit Harder
Dogecoin took the worst of it — down 7%, landing just above 9 cents. ZEC, XRP, and HYPE each lost somewhere between 5% and 6%. Ether, SOL, and BNB dropped a more modest 2% to 3%. TRX basically didn’t move at all, which stood out given the carnage elsewhere.
The spread of losses across the board wasn’t surprising. When macro pressure builds, it tends to hit the riskier, smaller names hardest. Dogecoin’s 7% drop in a single session is pretty rough, even by crypto standards. And XRP falling 5% to 6% alongside coins like ZEC and HYPE says something about how broadly the selling spread.
Treasury Auction and Business Data Did the Damage
The Treasury’s $70 billion sale of five-year notes cleared at 5.033% — the highest auction yield since 2006. That number alone got attention. It came in about 3 basis points above where notes were trading before the sale, which means buyers demanded more yield than the market expected. Not a great sign for risk appetite.
And then the business survey dropped. S&P Global’s data showed U.S. business output growing at its fastest pace in over five years — specifically, the strongest reading since July 2021. Normally, strong economic data is a good thing. But right now, strong growth reads as “rates stay higher for longer,” and bitcoin felt that almost immediately. The sharpest drop of the session came right after that report hit.
So you had two things hitting at once: a Treasury auction pricing at a 17-year high yield, and an economy that’s running hot enough to keep the Fed cautious. Neither is friendly to bitcoin.
Brent crude oil jumped over 4% to nearly $104 a barrel, snapping a six-session losing streak. That’s a significant rebound. Oil moving that sharply adds to inflationary noise, which again pushes against the idea of rate cuts anytime soon. For bitcoin holders, that’s more bad news stacked on bad news.
$14 Billion in Options Expiring on Deribit
There’s another layer here that traders are watching closely. Approximately $14 billion in bitcoin call options are set to expire on Deribit, and bitcoin is sitting below the $85,000 level where a significant chunk of those calls are concentrated. If it stays there, a lot of those options expire worthless. That kind of expiry can push price action in unpredictable directions as the date approaches — some traders hedge, some unwind, and the volatility can get messy fast.
It’s unclear exactly how the expiry will play out. No details yet on timing or how market makers are positioned. But with $14 billion on the line and bitcoin already under pressure from macro forces, the setup is complicated.
The correlation between traditional markets and crypto keeps getting tighter. Bitcoin’s drop tracked almost exactly with the Treasury yield spike and the business survey release. That’s not a coincidence anymore — it’s a pattern. Macro data moves crypto now in ways that would’ve seemed overstated just a few years ago. Institutional money is in the market, and institutional money watches yields.
The $85,000 level matters. It’s not arbitrary — it’s where the call options cluster, and staying below it has real consequences for market structure. Bitcoin closed the session at $83,900, still under that line.
The five-year Treasury note cleared at 5.033%.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Bitcoin drop below $84,000?
Bitcoin fell to around $83,900 after the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield jumped 15 basis points to 5.11% and a strong S&P Global business survey pushed expectations for sustained higher rates.
What is the Deribit options expiry and why does it matter?
Roughly $14 billion in Bitcoin call options are set to expire on Deribit, with significant positions clustered around the $85,000 strike price — a level Bitcoin is currently trading below.
Why It Matters
The drop in Bitcoin's price amid rising Treasury yields highlights the increasing sensitivity of cryptocurrencies to traditional financial indicators. As yields rise, the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like Bitcoin becomes more pronounced, potentially leading to further volatility in the crypto market. Additionally, the looming $14 billion in options adds a layer of complexity, as significant expirations can influence price movements and trader behavior in the short term.
