- The Chinese Commerce Ministry said that China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be meeting in the Malaysian capital on Friday.
- It said that the two would “discuss important issues” around bilateral trade.
- The crypto market staged a soft rebound, but retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the leading tokens largely remained in ‘bearish’ territory.
Bitcoin (BTC) gained in early morning trade on Thursday after China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng confirmed that he will be meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday in Malaysia.
According to a statement on Thursday from the Chinese Commerce Ministry, cited by Bloomberg, the meeting is scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur to “discuss important issues” around bilateral trade ties. The report comes amid rising trade tensions between the two countries.
Bitcoin’s price rose 1.5% in the last 24 hours, trading at around $109,600. Meanwhile, on Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency dipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ even as chatter remained at ‘high’ levels over the past day.
Sentiment Still Fragile After Flash Crash
Bitcoin and the broader crypto market’s modest recovery follows a volatile start to October, which has so far delivered little progress for bulls or bears. Bitcoin is down roughly 4% since the beginning of the month and remains about 13% below its all-time high near $126,000.
Earlier this month, a sudden market drop erased nearly $19 billion in leveraged bets after Trump renewed his tariff threats against China. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index plunged to ‘extreme fear’ levels on Wednesday, and has marginally recovered to ‘fear’ territory in early morning trade on Thursday.
Market Signals Mixed Ahead Of Fed Meeting
On-chain data from Glassnode pointed to pressure on recent buyers, noting that “Short-Term Holder NUPL [net unrealized profit/loss] highlights growing stress among recent buyers, reflecting a meaningful cooling of speculative excess.” It added that similar conditions in past cycles often preceded healthier market setups than the one investors are facing right now.
Traders will be eyeing the Federal Reserve’s meeting on October 29 amid the U.S. government shutdown and uncertainty around macro cues for the crypto market’s next move. In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz said he expects Bitcoin to trade between $120,000 and $125,000 by year-end. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered expects Bitcoin to fall below $100,000 before a healthy rebound.
BNB Leads Market Recovery
Among the leading altcoins, Binance Coin (BNB) led gains, climbing 3.7% to about $1,100 after being listed on Coinbase (BASE) and Robinhood (HOOD) on Wednesday. Solana (SOL) rose 2.8% to $188, while Ethereum (ETH) added 1.3% to trade near $3,883. Retail sentiment for all three tokens remained largely in ‘bearish’ territory on Stocktwits despite the price uptick.
Coinglass data showed that around $495 million was liquidated in the last 24 hours. Around $336 million came from long bets — traders who expected the price to rise – while the other $159 came from short positions.
The overall cryptocurrency market rose by 1.6% in the last 24 hours, with a market capitalization of around $3.78 trillion. On the equities side, shares of Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, rose 1.8% in pre-market trade. Meanwhile, shares of Ethereum-backed digital asset treasury (DAT) firm Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) gained more than 2.2%. Crypto-exchange Coinbase (COIN) climbed around 1%.
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