Live updates: A drop below $84,000 could put $80,000 in play for bitcoin

Bitcoin traded just above $86,000 early Tuesday, down 0.2% over 24 hours. On Monday it pushed above $87,000 and ran into heavy selling for the third time since Sept. 23.

ZEC led the majors with a gain of nearly 2% to about $1,360. DOGE was the laggard, down nearly 2%. SOL fell 1%, and ether, XRP and BNB each slipped less than 1%, CoinDesk data shows.

According to FxPro, bitcoin briefly slid to $85,200 before European trading opened. It’s still near the top of the range it has traded in for the past two weeks. The run of higher lows that began at the start of last week is under threat, the firm said, but hasn’t broken yet.

“A break below $84K would signal a victory for the bears,” FxPro said, meaning traders betting on lower prices would have the upper hand. A further fall through the recent low near $83,000 would confirm that shift and could send bitcoin to $80,000 fairly quickly, according to the firm.

Bonds offered some relief. U.S. Treasury yields fell from their highest since 2002 as oil slipped below $100 a barrel. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said economic growth and spending restraint would “very quickly” start to slow government borrowing. That paused a global bond selloff driven by inflation fears tied to the U.S.-Iran war and bets that the Fed will keep tightening.

Minutes from the Fed’s last meeting come out Wednesday.