Bitcoin Holds Above $80K as Markets Scale Back Fed Rate Hike Bets
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DOGE: $0.08060 (↑ 2.28%) TRX: $0.3354 (↑ 0.41%) LINK: $12.25 (↑ 2.13%) ZEC: $1,164.64 (↑ 5.26%) ADA: $0.2240 (↑ 2.91%) XRP: $1.30 (↑ 2.38%) ETH: $2,431.48 (↑ 0.65%) BTC: $81,573.38 (↑ 0.64%) XMR: $559.11 (↑ 0.12%) BNB: $721.68 (↑ 1.21%) XLM: $0.1795 (↑ 1.98%) SOL: $104.85 (↑ 1.28%) HYPE: $79.82 (↑ 1.71%)
Written by: William Suberg, staff writer Edited by: Sam Bourgi, staff editor
Bitcoin Price Steads Around $82K After Fed’s Warsh Avoids Rate-Hike Hints
Markets
Published: Oct 16, 2026
Bitcoin (BTC) price steadied around $82,000 on Friday’s Wall Street open, following a rebound in South Korean stocks and a decrease in expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.
Key Points:
- Bitcoin price volatility subsided as South Korean stocks rebounded by 2% on Friday, following a sharp sell-off earlier in the week.
- Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh offered no hints of further interest rate hikes during a public discussion, leading traders to lower the odds of a 25-basis-point rate increase in October to 15%.
- Analysts warned of challenging decisions for Washington as the 10-year US Treasury yield climbed back to 5.13% and US stocks traded in a narrow range.
Traders Interpret Warsh’s Comments as Dovish
Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD holding most of its reclaimed ground after bouncing at $80,000 on Thursday.
The previous decline followed a weeklong sell-off in South Korean tech stocks, but Friday’s Asian trading session brought some relief. The KOSPI Composite Index closed at 5,668, up 2% on the day but still down 8.3% for the week.
KOSPI Composite Index one-day chart
US stocks largely avoided the sell-off in Asian markets but were mixed on Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index down 0.5% and the S&P 500 up 0.5%.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh avoided any mention of further interest rate hikes during a discussion with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
"I don’t prejudge meetings. I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings that we have in the balance of this year," he said.
Markets Interpret Warsh’s Comments as Dovish
Data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed the probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike in October falling to 15%, down from 27% the previous day.
Economist Robin Brooks suggested that stress in the AI sector, a key driver of the Korea sell-off, could be behind Warsh’s more cautious approach.
"Warsh gave no indication the Fed’s in any hurry to hike, so the October meeting is now pretty much off the table in terms of a hike," he wrote in a blog post, adding:
"What’s helping the Fed is fears of an AI blow-up, which is making markets more receptive to a dovish message."
US Bond Yields Rise as Stocks Steady
US bond yields began rising as stocks stabilized, raising questions about whether the US Treasury will ultimately be forced to choose between taming the bond sell-off and keeping stocks bullish.
The US 10-year yield stood at 5.07% on Friday, having briefly attempted to reverse higher, reaching 5.13%.