Bitcoin Hits $111K as Crypto Whipsaw Continues Amid CZ Pardon and Stock Gains

Crypto markets swung higher on Thursday, mirroring gains in U.S. stocks, boosted by the presidential pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and ahead of Friday’s key September CPI report.

By mid-afternoon U.S. trading, Bitcoin (BTC) traded around $110,700, up 2.7% over the past 24 hours, slightly below the day’s high of $111,100. The move followed Wednesday’s sharp decline below $107,000, which itself came after Tuesday’s spike toward $114,000—a classic whipsaw pattern that has caught trend traders off guard.

The broader crypto sector also saw gains. Ether (ETH) rose to $3,883.66, DOGE to $0.1948, and ADA to $0.6446, all up roughly 2%-3%. Solana (SOL) and BNB led with more than 5% gains, the latter boosted by CZ’s pardon.

Crypto-related stocks rebounded after Wednesday’s losses: Hut 8 (HUT) surged 7.3% following a 17% drop, while Coinbase (COIN) and MicroStrategy (MSTR) climbed around 2%.

The pardon reinforces a crypto-friendly regulatory outlook in the U.S., supporting market sentiment alongside stock gains, with the Nasdaq up 1% just over an hour before close.

Attention now turns to Friday’s U.S. CPI release, the last major economic indicator before the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting meeting next week, where markets fully expect another 25-basis-point cut, with a similar reduction anticipated in December.