Bitcoin price tumbled sharply Thursday morning, falling to the low $107,000s as traders digested cautious remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and mixed signals from the latest Trump–Xi meeting.
The bitcoin price drop erased last week’s rebound and extended the bitcoin’s weak October performance, weighed down by macro headwinds and China-U.S. trade relations.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was down to $107,472 by early Thursday, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data, after briefly plunging to $107,925 overnight.
Bitcoin price reacts to Jerome Powell’s comments
The move followed the Fed’s 25-basis-point rate cut on Wednesday — its second of 2025 — bringing the target range to 3.75%–4%. While the cut was widely anticipated, Powell’s message was clear: further easing this year is far from guaranteed.
There were “strongly differing views among policymakers,” Powell said during his post-meeting press conference, adding that the Fed might “wait a cycle” before considering another reduction.
The remarks rattled markets that had been pricing in a December cut, with CME FedWatch data showing probabilities for another move dropping from 90% to just 71% after his comments.
Risk assets broadly weakened yesterday. The S&P 500 finished flat, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite managed a modest 0.6% gain. As of writing, markets for Thursday look bleak as well.
Bitcoin, which traded near $116,000 earlier in the week, sank as Powell spoke, briefly touching $109,000 in a sharp sell-off before stabilizing near $111,000 overnight.
The Fed’s tone also overshadowed what had appeared to be a positive outcome from the Trump–Xi summit. Following the meeting, President Trump said China would “immediately resume soybean purchases” and that “all rare-earth issues have been resolved.”
Still, it looks like traders remained cautious, focusing instead on the Fed’s hawkish pivot and the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, now entering its fourth week.
Institutional demand also showed early signs of weakness. U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $470.7 million in outflows on Wednesday, ending a four-day inflow streak and marking the largest daily outflow since October 16, per Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.
Will the bitcoin price react to Quantitative Tightening ending?
Powell did confirm that the Fed is nearing the end of its Quantitative Tightening (QT) program — a move that could eventually boost liquidity in risk assets.
Since 2022, QT has drained nearly $1 trillion from the Fed’s balance sheet by allowing Treasury and mortgage holdings to mature without reinvestment.
Powell said the process could conclude by December but warned that future decisions remain data-dependent. Despite the sharp correction, analysts remain divided on Bitcoin’s near-term direction.
