Bitcoin Price Begins 'Uptober' With a Swing Back to $85K

Seasonal Sentiment Shifts to ‘Uptober’

Bitcoin marked the start of the new month facing resistance above $85,000 as the leading cryptocurrency by market cap experienced typical seesaw price action. The uptick near the $85,000 mark followed Wednesday’s release of better-than-expected personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data. The price movement came just hours after bitcoin closed September with net gains, marking its second consecutive positive month.

The rare winning streak has shifted market focus toward seasonal “Uptober” sentiment, a historically bullish October trend for digital assets, with prominent, pseudonymous quantitative analyst PlanB going so far as to assert that bitcoin remains “extremely undervalued.”

According to market data, bitcoin’s price began the period by sliding from $84,410 to $83,500, a threshold where it appeared to find strong support. After holding this range until late Wednesday, the cryptocurrency suddenly rallied to reach $84,300 around 2:15 a.m. EST, only to plunge to just above $83,200 two hours later.

The cryptocurrency then began a steady rise, reclaiming and losing $84,000 several times during another volatile period. At 1:45 p.m. EST, bitcoin’s price hovered near $85,000, showing a 1% gain over the past 24 hours amid a sharp decline in liquidations across the crypto market.

Liquidations Cool After Volatile Session

According to Coinglass data, total bitcoin liquidations were capped near $35 million, a substantial decline from more than $80 million recorded 24 hours earlier. However, unlike Wednesday, long positions wiped out eclipsed short bets, with longs accounting for 60% of total liquidations. Overall, liquidations across the cryptocurrency market reached $193 million, with long bets totaling nearly $117 million.

Since surging in the second half of August, bitcoin has trimmed its year-to-date losses to just 3%. The sharp reversal has reignited bullish sentiment across the market, sparking renewed enthusiasm among traders and setting off ambitious long-term price projections.

Citigroup has already revised its 12-month price target for bitcoin to $113,000 from $82,000. Citi cited accelerating crypto market activity, a favorable macroeconomic environment, and resuming bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows, projecting approximately $5 billion in net ETF inflows over the coming 12 months.