Bitcoin Slides From $84,900 to $82,200 as Oil Jumps on Iran Strike Plans: Is the US-Iran War About to Restart?

In today’s Bitcoin news, the BTC price is down 2.1% on the day and Brent crude is up 2.7% to $111.73 a barrel. Bitcoin fell from nearly $85,000 to about $82,200 early on Thursday, October 22. The New York Times reported that the U.S. and Israeli militaries have drawn up plans to resume strikes on Iran after the November 3 midterms, sending oil higher. The report hit just after midnight UTC. The selling started an hour later. So how close are Washington and Tehran to fighting again, and how low can Bitcoin go? If Bitcoin does this now and I don't tweet again. I committed seppuko. Just a heads up. pic.twitter.com/VIYPPajt7P — VikingXBT (@VikingXBT) October 22, 2026 Bitcoin News: Why Did BTC Drop From $84,800 to $82,190 Today? Because the Iran trade flipped. On Wednesday, BTC rallied to $84,898 while U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $524.8 million, Farside data shows. Then the strike report landed at about 00:35 UTC, and BTC lost about $800 in the 01:00 UTC hour alone. Leverage did the rest. OKX’s public data shows Bitcoin futures open interest, the value of all open bets, fell from $3.47 billion at midnight to $3.27 billion by 07:00 UTC. That’s about $200 million of positions closed or...