Bitcoin slips below $85,000 as Treasury yields rise above 5%

Bitcoin fell below $85,000 on Sept. 23 after stronger-than-expected US business activity pushed Treasury yields higher. CoinGlass recorded $135.8 million in crypto liquidations within an hour. Long positions accounted for $125.9 million of the liquidations. Bitcoin accounted for $47.4 million. Ether accounted for $23.9 million. Losses totaled $510 million across 122,256 traders over the past 24 hours. Long traders lost $363.83 million. S&P Global's composite purchasing managers' index climbed to 58.4 in September. The reading was the highest in more than five years. The services index rose to 58.7. Manufacturing reached 57. All three readings exceeded expectations. Chris Williamson said the survey was consistent with annualized economic growth of about 5%. Williamson said the survey signaled roughly 4% growth for the third quarter overall. Companies reported the steepest increase in input costs in four years. Higher oil prices raised fuel and transportation expenses. Supply-chain bottlenecks worsened. Backlogs increased. Williamson said stronger demand and limited capacity were giving companies greater pricing power. He said the combination raised the risk that cost increases would feed into inflation in the coming months. The 10-year Treasury yield moved back above 5%. The yield returned to levels last seen in 2007. The two-year yield reached its highest level in about 27 months. James Lavish argued that Treasury supply was colliding with investor concerns about structural dollar debasement. Lavish said higher yields could become self-reinforcing as rising interest costs increased the government's financing needs. He said those needs could require more debt issuance. Bitcoin had pushed through $86,000 earlier in the week. That move forced short positions to cover and helped accelerate Bitcoin toward $87,000. The subsequent move removed that short-covering support. Bitcoin therefore depended on fresh spot demand to reclaim $85,000. Treasury yields remained above 5% as US growth continued to exceed expectations.