Bitcoin Falls Below $105K, Gold Hits ATH As Fear Grips Markets

Bitcoin plunged below $105K and gold soared to another all-time high (ATH) as “extreme fear” grips the crypto market.

The sell-off followed emerging loan issues at several US regional banks, raising concerns of broader systemic risks.

US regional lenders Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp disclosed that they were victims of fraud on loans to funds that invest in distressed commercial mortgages.

This followed a loan blowup at subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings and the collapse of First Brands Group, which owed over $10 billion to some of the biggest Wall Street banks.

US President Donald Trump add to the downbeat mood when he confirmed that there is a trade war with China. 

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index plummeted six points into “extreme fear’ territory with a reading of 22. That’s down from 64 last week, when there was still “greed” in the market. 

Crypto Fear & Greed Index (Source: alternative.me)

Crypto Liquidations Surpass $1B As Bitcoin Tumbles

The Bitcoin price has slid over 5% in the past 24 hours, extending its weekly losses to more than 13%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

BTC price (Source: CoinMarketCap)

It’s trading at $104,818.37 as of 4:24 a.m. EST. 

The rest of the market followed BTC’s lead, with overall market capitalization plummeting over 5%.

Traders took a knock as a result, causing 24-hour liquidations in the market to soar to above $1.1 billion, data from CoinGlass shows. The majority of this amount came from long positions, which are bets that prices will rise, for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Overall, $935.64 million got liquidated from bullish trades.

Gold Soars To Another ATH

Gold, which has been the go-to hedge against market uncertainty and inflation for investors over the years, saw its price go on to set yet another record high, this time at $4,380.79 per ounce. 

TradingView data shows that the price of gold has surged 25% since Aug. 29.

Gold price (Source: TradingView)

The rising price has also seen gold’s market cap soar to a record high of $30 trillion, making the commodity the first asset in history to achieve this milestone. 

Known Bitcoin critic and gold investor Peter Schiff recently took to X to comment on gold’s outperformance compared to Bitcoin, and said that “Gold is more likely to hit $1 million than Bitcoin.” 

Gold is more likely to hit $1 million than Bitcoin.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) October 16, 2025

That’s after he said that long-term Bitcoin investors “are in denial” amid the “de-bitcoinization” trade. 

“Gold is eating Bitcoin’s lunch,” he wrote on X.  “HODLers, sell your fool’s gold now and buy the real thing, or have fun going broke,” Schiff added.

Crypto ETFs Lose Over $500M

The capital rotation out of crypto is also seen with spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs (exchange-traded funds).

Investors pulled out more than $530.9 million from the BTC products in the latest trading session, according to Farside Investor data. The majority of these net daily outflows came from ARK Invest’s ARKB, which saw $275.2 million leave its reserves. 

The next-biggest outflows in the US spot Bitcoin ETF market were posted by Fidelity’s FBTC, with its $132 million outflows. 

Other spot BTC ETFs, including BlackRock’s IBIT, Bitwise’s BITB, VanEck’s HODL, and both of Grayscale’s products all saw outflows on the day as well.

IBIT’s outflows reached $29.5 million, while BITB and HODL saw respective negative flows of $20.6 million and $6.1 million. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC saw $45 million outflows and $22.5 million left its BTC ETF.

Spot Ethereum ETFs saw lighter outflows of only $56.8 million with Grayscale’s ETHE bleeding $69 million in outflows. 

Fidelity’s FETH, Bitwise’s ETHW, Franklin’s EZET and Grayscale’s ETH also saw capital leave their reserves. BlackRock’s ETHA was the only one of the funds to record positive flows, with $46.9 million added to its reserves. 

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