Crypto Pulse: October 28, 2026 — Bitcoin Holds Above $81,000 as a Divided Fed Leaves December Open

4 min read

Bitcoin held above $81,000 on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, keeping most of the gains crypto had built ahead of the decision once the announcement landed. In Market Briefer’s delayed snapshot at 5:14 p.m. CDT, Bitcoin rose 0.48% to $81,183, Solana gained 1.21% to $102.32 and Dogecoin led the board with a rise of 1.93% to $0.080, a session tracked throughout the day on Market Briefer’s Crypto desk.

The day had begun on the front foot. CoinDesk reported that Bitcoin rose about 2% in Asian trading hours, building on its recovery from Monday’s dip below $80,000 as traders positioned for the decision, with South Korea’s Kospi jumping 6.6% on a surge in chip shares and Nasdaq-100 futures adding 0.5%. Memecoins led the early altcoin gains in CoinDesk’s data, and by the afternoon snapshot the board had cooled from those highs without giving the day back, with five of the six coins on it still positive.

The board below is Market Briefer’s delayed market data, sourced from CoinGecko and delayed by about 15 minutes, as of 5:14 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, ordered by 24-hour move, biggest first.

Dogecoin’s 1.93% rise to $0.080 was the strongest print on the board, followed by Solana, up 1.21% to $102.32 and holding above $100, and Cardano, up 0.51% to $0.206. Bitcoin added 0.48% to $81,183 and Ethereum rose 0.43% to $2,356, while TRON was the only decliner, down 0.57% to $0.329. Read as a whole, the board describes a market that took a widely expected decision in its stride, its entire range contained within about two and a half percentage points.

The decision itself carried the day’s real information in its split. The Federal Open Market Committee voted 10 to 2 to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.75% to 4%, the Federal Reserve said in its statement, which described economic activity as expanding at a strong pace and said inflation remains elevated, adding that the accumulation of more information will help the Committee determine the policy stance appropriate to ensure a timely return of inflation to its 2% goal. Voting against the action were Lisa D. Cook and Beth M. Hammack, who preferred to raise the target range by a quarter of a percentage point at this meeting, the statement said.

The market’s response was relief without resolution. Dow Jones Newswires reported that Bitcoin climbed back above $81,000 after the decision, trading 0.7% higher at $81,245 after bouncing from around the $80,500 threshold during U.S. morning trading, with ether 0.6% higher at $2,360. The same report said markets were pricing in a nearly 83% chance that the central bank will raise rates by a quarter point when it reconvenes in December, according to data from CME Group, an outlook Dow Jones noted has supported the U.S. dollar and provided a floor for Treasury yields, creating a less favorable backdrop for Bitcoin.

Market Briefer’s explainer on how central bank rate decisions ripple through markets sets out that transmission in full, and Wednesday was a clean example of it: the decision itself moved little, while the expected path of the next one set the terms on which crypto held its gains.

Underneath the spot market, the flow picture improved for a second day. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $176 million on Tuesday, a second consecutive day of inflows, according to Farside Investors data reported by CoinDesk, following the $110 million CoinDesk reported for Monday. Positioning stayed active rather than crowded: CoinDesk reported that crypto futures volume rose 7.5% to $163.2 billion over 24 hours while liquidations jumped 38% to $183.6 million, and that bitcoin’s one-week put-call skew on Deribit had fallen to less than 1% from nearly 10% a week earlier, a sign that demand for short-term downside protection eased into the decision.

What to watch now arrives quickly. On Thursday, October 29, the Bureau of Economic Analysis releases the advance estimate of third-quarter GDP and September’s Personal Income and Outlays report, including the PCE price indexes, at 8:30 a.m. ET — the first inflation reading the Committee will see after a statement that pointedly asked for more information. The board’s reference levels going into that print are Bitcoin’s $81,000 mark, with the snapshot at $81,183 just above it, Solana above $100 at $102.32, and Ethereum at $2,356, still below the $2,400 area. The daily U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF flow print after Wednesday’s session is the crypto-specific check alongside the data: a third consecutive inflow would extend the week’s turn, while a return to outflows would reopen the pattern that pressed on prices earlier in October.

Educational content — not investment advice. Crypto Pulse is AI-assisted research produced with automated data checks; figures are verified against the cited sources at publication time.