Bitcoin declined 1.4% to around $80,100 on Thursday after briefly falling to $79,600, as renewed pressure on technology stocks and weaker-than-expected Alphabet earnings dampened appetite for risk assets. Investors also assessed the Federal Reserve’s latest rate decision ahead of the release of U.S. inflation data.

Ether (ETH) lost 1.7%, while the CoinDesk Memecoin Index fell 3.4%, reflecting widespread selling across the crypto market.

Asian equities were also under pressure. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.2%, and Samsung Electronics shares slid 4% despite the company reporting record quarterly profits. Concerns over shareholder returns appeared to outweigh the strong earnings results. Meanwhile, Nasdaq-100 futures declined 1.1% after Alphabet’s results disappointed investors.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, but two officials dissented, favoring a 25-basis-point increase. Chair Kevin Warsh did not provide clear guidance on the central bank’s December decision. Attention has now shifted to September’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, which could provide further insight into the inflation outlook.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to attract capital, recording $137 million in net inflows on Wednesday. This marked their third consecutive day of positive flows, bringing the combined total for the three sessions to $423.7 million.

Crypto Derivatives Activity Increases as Open Interest Declines

Crypto futures trading picked up, with 24-hour volume increasing 21.8% to $198.8 billion. At the same time, total open interest fell 1.9%, suggesting that some traders were reducing their positions. Liquidations climbed 84% to $337.4 million, while taker activity remained nearly balanced, with buyers accounting for 50.1% and sellers 49.9%.

Bitcoin declined 1.6%, while its open interest dropped 1.2%. Ether lost 2.1%, accompanied by a more modest 0.7% decrease in open interest. Funding rates for both assets remained above zero but weakened from the previous day, indicating that bullish positioning had eased.

Ether liquidations totaled $71.6 million, nearly matching Bitcoin’s $72.5 million, despite Ether having roughly half Bitcoin’s open interest.

BNB futures displayed a contrasting trend. Open interest rose 1.7% even as the token’s price slipped 0.8%, and trading volume surged 70%. Its funding rate was the most negative among major cryptocurrencies, suggesting that bearish traders were paying bullish traders to maintain their positions. SUI exhibited a comparable pattern, although the move was less pronounced.

ZEC open interest declined 12% as its price dropped 5.4%. The reduction followed the previous session’s 13.9% increase in open interest, which accompanied a 6.3% price rally. Despite the latest pullback, ZEC funding remained positive.

Funding rates across most major cryptocurrencies stayed positive but generally declined. BNB recorded the lowest rate, while XMR registered the highest.

Open-interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) was negative across nearly all major tokens, suggesting that selling pressure outweighed buying activity. NEAR experienced a particularly sharp decline around midday.

In equity-linked crypto derivatives, GOOGL perpetual futures saw open interest jump 77% while prices fell 10%. Trading volume also climbed to nearly five times its previous level.

Bitcoin Options Show Mixed Positioning as Ether Traders Favor Downside Protection

Bitcoin options activity on Deribit leaned toward calls among the six most-traded contracts, with four featuring strike prices above the current spot price. The October 30 call at $82,500 was the most active contract.

Despite this interest in higher prices, the broader options skew continued to signal demand for downside hedges, indicating that traders remained wary of further losses.

Ether options presented a more defensive picture. Five of the six most-traded contracts were puts, with strike prices ranging from $2,280 to $1,500. The only call among the group was a December contract with a $3,200 strike price. Puts also remained more expensive than calls, pointing to stronger demand for protection against a potential decline.

AI and DeFi Tokens Slide as Risk Appetite Weakens

AI-focused cryptocurrencies fell alongside technology stocks. NEAR dropped 7.8%, while Bittensor (TAO) declined 3.1%. The weakness came as Alphabet shares fell approximately 10% in premarket trading following its disappointing earnings commentary.

DeFi tokens also faced significant selling pressure. Raydium (RAY) declined 8.9%, Jito (JTO) lost 6.8%, and Ethena (ENA) fell 6%.

JasmyCoin (JASMY) recorded a 10% loss, making it the biggest decliner in the CoinDesk 100. Dash (DASH) and Pump.fun (PUMP) each fell around 6%.

Tron (TRX) was among the few tokens to move higher, gaining 0.5%.

Meanwhile, CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index dropped to 54 out of 100 from 60 a day earlier, indicating that altcoin performance had weakened relative to the broader crypto market.