Bitcoin

Gold

President Donald Trump

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 <a href="https://x.com/MerruX/status/1978558776077606952" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">confirmed</a> that there is a trade war with China.&nbsp;
The Crypto Fear &amp; 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.&nbsp;
<img src="https://insidebitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-17-104658-300x246.png" alt="Crypto Fear &amp; Greed Index" width="832" height="682">
Crypto Fear &amp; Greed Index (Source: <a href="https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index/#google_vignette" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">alternative.me</a>)
<h2 id="span-style-font-weight-400-crypto-liquidations-surpass-1b-as-bitcoin-tumbles-span">Crypto Liquidations Surpass $1B As Bitcoin Tumbles</h2>
The Bitcoin price has slid over 5% in the past 24 hours, extending its weekly losses to more than 13%, according to <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer">data</a> from CoinMarketCap.&nbsp;
<img src="https://insidebitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-17-102304-300x177.png" alt="BTC price" width="781" height="461">
BTC price (Source: CoinMarketCap)
It’s trading at $104,818.37 as of 4:24 a.m. EST.&nbsp;
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 <a href="https://www.coinglass.com/LiquidationData" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">shows</a>. 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.
<h2 id="span-style-font-weight-400-gold-soars-to-another-ath-span">Gold Soars To Another ATH</h2>
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.&nbsp;
TradingView data shows that the price of gold has surged 25% since Aug. 29.
<img src="https://s3.tradingview.com/snapshots/3/3clQaryx.png" alt="TVC:GOLD Chart Image by StevenWalgenbach">
Gold price (Source: <a href="https://www.tradingview.com/x/3clQaryx/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TradingView</a>)
The rising price has also seen gold’s market cap soar to a record high of $30 trillion, making the commodity the <a href="https://x.com/stats_feed/status/1979035039577915719" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">first asset in history</a> to achieve this milestone.&nbsp;
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.”&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
 Gold is more likely to hit $1 million than Bitcoin.
 — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterSchiff/status/1978967429377122677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">October 16, 2025</a>
</blockquote>

That’s after he said that long-term Bitcoin investors “are in denial” amid the “de-bitcoinization” trade.&nbsp;
“Gold is eating Bitcoin’s lunch,” he <a href="https://x.com/PeterSchiff/status/1978855411840135332" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">wrote</a> on X.&nbsp; “HODLers, sell your fool’s gold now and buy the real thing, or have fun going broke,” Schiff added.
<h2 id="span-style-font-weight-400-crypto-etfs-lose-over-500m-span">Crypto ETFs Lose Over $500M</h2>
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 <a href="https://farside.co.uk/btc/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Farside Investor</a> data. The majority of these net daily outflows came from ARK Invest’s ARKB, which saw $275.2 million leave its reserves.&nbsp;
The next-biggest outflows in the US spot Bitcoin ETF market were posted by Fidelity’s FBTC, with its $132 million outflows.&nbsp;
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 <a href="https://farside.co.uk/eth/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ethereum ETFs</a> saw lighter outflows of only $56.8 million with Grayscale’s ETHE bleeding $69 million in outflows.&nbsp;
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.&nbsp;
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Bitcoin Plunges Below $105k, Liquidations Top $1B, Gold Hits All-Time High As “Extreme Fear” Grips Markets

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