U.S. equities sold off sharply on Oct. 22 as higher Treasury yields and a firmer dollar kept pressure on growth-sensitive assets, while Bitcoin-linked demand remained concentrated in a small number of large vehicles and corporate buyers. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.6% to 26,430.89, its steepest decline among the major benchmarks, while the S&P 500 fell 1.21% to 7,663.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.02% to 52,867.98.
The move places the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 27-28 policy meeting at the center of market attention. CME FedWatch data showed more than an 80% probability that policymakers would leave the federal funds target range unchanged at 3.75%-4.00%, while the implied probability of a rate increase stood near 15%. The effective federal funds rate was 3.88% based on Oct. 14-15 data.
Treasury yields keep financial conditions tight
Bond markets have offered little relief to traders positioning for the Fed decision. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield traded between 5.00% and 5.31%, while the two-year yield held near 4.73%-4.75%. Such levels raise financing costs across the economy and increase the appeal of government debt relative to assets whose valuations depend more heavily on future growth.
The U.S. dollar index traded in a 101.7-102.1 range after rebounding almost 4% from its September low. A stronger dollar can add another constraint for dollar-priced assets, including Bitcoin, by making them more expensive for buyers using other currencies. The combination of high yields and dollar strength has produced a demanding backdrop for technology stocks, crypto-related equities, and leveraged trading activity.
The market reaction was uneven rather than indiscriminate. The Dow’s narrow gain suggested that capital rotated toward more defensive or value-oriented shares, while the Nasdaq’s decline reflected pressure on companies with longer-duration earnings expectations. Crypto equities participated in the broader risk-off move, even as selected Bitcoin products recorded substantial inflows earlier in the week.
Strategy adds Bitcoin while buying back preferred shares
Strategy disclosed that it acquired 267 BTC between Oct. 12 and Oct. 18 for about $22.1 million, or an average price of roughly $82,900 per Bitcoin. The purchase lifted the company’s reported holdings to 848,517 BTC as of Oct. 18.
At a Bitcoin price of $83,000, those holdings would be worth about $70.4 billion. Strategy reported a total Bitcoin cost basis of roughly $63.8 billion to $64 billion, including fees, equating to an average purchase price of about $75,416 per BTC.
The size of the latest purchase was modest beside the company’s simultaneous capital-management activity. Strategy repurchased $193.1 million of STRC preferred shares during the same period, about 8.7 times the amount spent on Bitcoin. It also reported $5.52 billion in cash reserves, while its board increased authorization for repurchases of digital credit securities to $3 billion from $2 billion.
That allocation shows a company balancing its long-running Bitcoin accumulation strategy with efforts to manage the capital structure supporting it. Strategy’s reported third-quarter accounting gain also illustrates how new fair-value rules can substantially affect financial statements: the company cited a $21 billion unrealized gain on digital assets and said the treatment returned it to profitability after four quarters.
Bitcoin ETF demand flows mainly to IBIT
U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw pronounced divergence on Oct. 20. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, IBIT, recorded a one-day net inflow of $665 million, while Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, FBTC, posted net outflows of $83.63 million and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, GBTC, recorded outflows of $54.93 million.
The split points to concentration within the spot ETF market rather than a uniform increase in demand across all issuers. IBIT has become the main destination for large allocations, giving BlackRock’s fund an increasingly outsized role in daily flow figures.
Across the first two trading days of October, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $292.5 million, according to the figures provided, including $102.7 million on Oct. 1 and $189.8 million on Oct. 2. The average daily inflow over those sessions was $146.3 million.
BlackRock also filed for the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, proposed under the ticker PBIT. The registration filing describes an actively managed product that would use options linked to IBIT to shape upside participation and downside exposure. The structure would give traders seeking Bitcoin exposure an alternative to holding a purely spot-based ETF, although options-based protection generally comes with trade-offs in cost and potential returns.
Crypto-linked stocks trail a divided brokerage sector
Coinbase shares fell 4.51% to close at $169.09, leaving the stock more than 53% below its 52-week high of $373.25. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $1.154 billion, down 17.34% year over year, alongside a net loss of $359 million.
Coinbase has also pursued products beyond spot crypto trading. On Sept. 1, the company filed two registration statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to proposed single-stock perpetual contracts, extending its derivatives ambitions into a product category that combines equity references with perpetual futures-style structures.
Robinhood ended the session down 2.38% at $96.52, though its reported financial performance contrasted with Coinbase’s. Robinhood posted second-quarter revenue of $1.308 billion, up 32.25% year over year, and net profit of $585 million, up 51.55%.
Its crypto business showed a weaker trend. Robinhood reported first-quarter crypto revenue of $134 million, down 47% from a year earlier, while crypto trading volume fell 48% to $2.4 billion. The figures suggest that strong earnings at diversified brokerages do not necessarily signal a recovery in retail cryptocurrency trading volumes.
Energy and geopolitical risks remain in view
Oil prices added another layer of concern for energy-intensive Bitcoin mining operations, with WTI crude listed at $99.02 and Brent crude at $109.86. Higher fuel and power costs can compress mining margins, particularly for operators without low-cost or fixed-price electricity arrangements.
Galaxy Digital projected that at least five digital-asset treasury, or DAT, companies could fail or be acquired during 2026 as the sector consolidates. No other U.S.-listed firms were identified in the supplied information as announcing new Bitcoin purchases or DAT transitions during October, leaving Strategy as the clearest large-scale corporate buyer in the period.
Risks from the Russia-Ukraine war, instability in the Middle East, and threats to Red Sea shipping routes continue to feed into energy and transportation costs. A proposed U.S. secondary-tariff approach targeting purchasers of Russian oil and gas could extend those pressures if it advances through the legislative process.
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