Bitcoin rally slows as $15.6 billion options expire, XRP and Solana rise

Bitcoin slipped to around $83,600 on Friday after $15.6 billion in Bitcoin options expired on Deribit. The decline was roughly 1% from the prior close. Bitcoin had reached an intraday high near $87,000. Bitcoin had broken above a $75,000 to $81,000 range that had capped it for weeks. Bitcoin's 50-day moving average remained above its 200-day moving average in a pattern known as a golden cross. Open interest fell 14.39%. Twenty-four-hour trading volume fell 13.68%. Liquidations included $161.96 million in long positions. Short-position liquidations totaled $156.1 million over the last 24 hours. The Federal Reserve raised rates 25 basis points to a range of 3.75% to 4% on September 16. It was the first rate hike since 2023. The Federal Reserve continued buying short-term Treasury bills. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's post-meeting dot plot projected a median rate of 4.1% through the end of 2027. Fed Governor Michael Barr said on September 23 that further policy adjustments were likely needed. Core PCE inflation was 3.4%. Odds of an October rate hike reached roughly 75% on the CME's FedWatch tool. Odds reached 68.5% on Myriad Markets. Spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $299.09 million on Friday. Total crypto market capitalization stood at $2.87 trillion. The Fear and Greed Index fell to 72 from 79. Ethereum was roughly flat over the past 24 hours. BNB fell 0.81%. XRP rose 4.37% over the past day. XRP rose 15.45% over seven days. XRP traded near $1.58 with a $99 billion market capitalization. XRP ETFs recorded a nine-day inflow streak worth $1.6 billion in late August. Solana rose 3.36% on the day. Solana rose 9.33% over seven days. Solana traded around $119.84 with a $70 billion market capitalization. Solana's Alpenglow upgrade would reduce transaction finality to roughly 150 milliseconds. Validators approved the upgrade in a governance vote. The mainnet activation date remained tentative. Spot Solana ETFs from Fidelity, Grayscale, and VanEck continued to receive inflows. September's Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation data is due on September 30. The September jobs report is due on October 2.