Bitcoin Drops Below $77K as Fed Rate Hike Looms
Bitcoin (BTC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
Bitcoin closed at $75,702 on Tuesday, breaking below its 24-day consolidation range of $77,100 to $81,300 as reported by cvj.ai. This 3.2% daily decline marks the third close below the range floor and follows the first close under the $76,043 low recorded on September 11. The move occurred just before the Federal Reserve’s expected first rate hike of 2026, reversing earlier cut expectations.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $450.4 million, with Fidelity’s FBTC and BlackRock’s IBIT accounting for 84% of the total. Short-term holders contributed to selling pressure by depositing 33,100 BTC into exchanges, with 23,200 BTC deposited at a loss. The breakdown coincided with the failure of the CLARITY Act cloture vote and the 10-year Treasury yield trading at 5%.
Open interest dropped by $1.7 billion during a peak-to-trough decline but was rapidly rebuilt, with aggregate futures OI standing at $52.15 billion. Long positions faced $571 million in liquidations, the largest since August 22. The price fell below the True Market Mean of $76,500, leaving the average active holder at a loss.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for BTC, measured when this story was written up on 16 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio data shows BTC trading at $75,644.48 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 26.7% against a 4-hour ratio of 54.0%. The 24-hour buy ratio sits at 49.1%, indicating that short-term selling pressure is stronger than the broader four-hour trend. Volume delta reflects this imbalance, showing a net outflow of $18.5 million in the last hour compared to a net inflow of $30.9 million over four hours. Over the full day, the volume delta was negative at -$29.2 million, despite a cumulative CVD of +$14.1 million. This suggests that while some buying occurred, the immediate momentum is weighted toward selling. The market recorded $1.66 billion in spot volume across 3.4 million trades.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.7% sits at the 18th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.2% - weaker buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for BTC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 48.8%, making today’s 24-hour ratio of 49.1% nearly identical to the weekly norm. However, trading volume was 1.51 times the weekly average, indicating an unusually high level of activity. The 8-day volume delta was -$317.3 million, contrasting with the single-day delta of -$29.2 million. Price declined 3.6% over eight days, with net buying occurring on only three of the seven days. This volume spike suggests heightened participation despite the broader downward price trend.