[DigitalToday reporter Hyunwoo Choo (추현우)] Bitcoin began trading in the third week of October around the $82,000 level, and a forecast emerged that it could test support at $80,000 again. Cointelegraph reported on Oct. 19 (local time) that bitcoin ended weekly trading below a key support zone while U.S. stocks tried to recoup last week’s losses.

On a weekly basis, bitcoin closed at $82,000, below the $82,500 to $82,800 support zone. Crypto trader Rekt Capital saw a risk that if this move leads to a revalidation of resistance near $82,500, the price could fall below $80,000 in the coming weeks.

This week, market attention is shifting from U.S. macro indicators to corporate earnings. About 15 percent of S&P 500 constituents are set to report third-quarter results, and SpaceX is due on Tuesday, with Tesla and Meta set for Wednesday.

Last week’s weakness in tech shares appeared first in South Korea’s stock market. The benchmark KOSPI fell 2.8 percent on the 12th and then slid to a weekly low of 5,455 on Thursday, with weekly losses at one point reaching 17 percent. The weakness spread to other Asian markets, and later in the week U.S. stocks also wobbled, with the S&P 500 down 2 percent on the week.

Over the weekend, concerns about a “Black Monday” spread mainly on social media, but markets tried to rebound. The KOSPI rose 1.8 percent on the 19th, and S&P 500 futures were up 0.7 percent as of the time of writing.

Some in the market also assessed the tech selloff as excessive. The Kobeissi Letter pointed to valuations based on forward earnings falling even as large-cap tech share prices rise. Still, the S&P 500’s strength was driven by a handful of large tech stocks, and 80 percent of index components remained more than 10 percent below their record highs.

Monetary policy is also a factor. The Federal Reserve is due to make an interest rate decision on the 28th, and CME Group’s FedWatch showed markets pricing in an 85 percent chance that rates will be kept in the current 3.75 to 4 percent range at the October meeting. For the December meeting, it put the chances at 11 percent for another hold, 75 percent for a 25 bp increase and 13 percent for a 50 bp increase.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh recently avoided giving advance signals on the policy path for the rest of the year in a dialogue with Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Inflation indicators, meanwhile, are limiting expectations for an easing of tightening. The U.S. producer price index for September rose 1.7 percent from the previous month, the largest monthly increase since March 2022, and the September consumer price index came in at 3.7 percent year on year, 0.1 percentage point above estimates.

Weaker U.S. investment demand was also cited as a burden for bitcoin. CryptoQuant said the Coinbase Premium Index fell to minus 0.141 on the 18th, its lowest level since June 30. If the gauge stays in negative territory, a lack of demand to absorb selling pressure could increase the risk of a short-term price correction.