Bitcoin Flat as Quantum Computing Fears Resurface, October on Track for Weakest Gains Since 2015

Bitcoin and the broader crypto market continue to drift with little conviction, even as October — historically one of the strongest months for digital assets — looks set to deliver its weakest returns in a decade.

Bitcoin (BTC) hovered around $109,000 during Thursday’s Asian session, holding steady after the sharp Oct. 10 sell-off that erased roughly $19 billion in leveraged positions and dampened risk appetite.

Ether (ETH) traded near $3,850, while Solana (SOL), XRP, and Cardano (ADA) barely budged over the past 24 hours. Despite an early-month burst of volatility, the market has settled into a narrow range, frustrating both bulls and bears.

“The market’s been in what traders call ‘sell-the-growth mode,’” said one derivatives analyst. “Each rally gets faded faster as liquidity dries up and sentiment weakens.”

The crypto fear index has slipped to 25, hovering just above “extreme fear.” Bitcoin remains stuck between its 50- and 200-day moving averages, with every rebound fading more quickly than the last.

Even Google’s latest technological milestone failed to shake the malaise. The company’s unveiling of a “quantum advantage” achieved by its Willow chip — a development some view as a step toward practical quantum computing — briefly stirred concerns about the long-term security of Bitcoin’s cryptography.

While experts agree quantum threats to blockchain remain distant, the news rekindled old fears at a time when market confidence is already fragile.

With the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 29 meeting approaching and macro uncertainty weighing on sentiment, traders appear reluctant to take strong directional bets.

“The market’s been balancing in this tight range, and that tells you how close we are to a bigger move,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro. “Either the bulls lose patience, or the bears run out of conviction.”

For now, the story of October has been one of apathy — a rare and ominous tone in a market built on momentum and narratives. Even Google’s quantum leap wasn’t enough to jolt it back to life.