Quantum Crypto weekly round-up: 1–9 October 2026
Welcome back to the crypto-sphere. Bitcoin had a big third quarter, up around 43%, but October has been a grind. All week Bitcoin kept knocking on the door at US$87,000, and all week the door stayed shut. Let’s dive in and look at what the charts are saying, what’s moving outside of Bitcoin, and why weeks like this are exactly why we bang on about cold storage.
Prices move very quickly in this space. Every number here is a snapshot from the week of 1–9 October 2026 (NZ time).
Market Snapshot: Bitcoin Hits the Ceiling Again
- 2 October: around US$83,800–84,000 and fairly flat. Everyone was watching US$87K above, with support down at US$80K / US$79.5K.
- 5 October: back above US$85K (about US$85,450 on Coinbase) after getting knocked back near US$87K.
- 6 October: about US$85,780, or roughly NZ$153,000. Pushing into the US$86–87K zone again.
- 7 October: about US$85,500. Bouncing between US$85.1K and US$86.7K and still stuck under US$87K.
- 8 October: down to about US$83,400 (around NZ$148,800), off roughly 2.5% in 24 hours according to CoinGecko, after another rejection near US$86.7K.
- 9 October: a slide into the US$81–83K range. Reports had hundreds of millions of dollars of leveraged long positions wiped out. The Fear & Greed Index cooled off into the low 60s.
The honest take: this is a market going sideways and shaking out the people using leverage. Many highs and lows. That’s nothing new in this space, and if you’ve been around since the early days you’ll have seen it plenty of times.
What the Chart Watchers Are Saying
These are individual views posted publicly on X. They’re not predictions, and they’re not our advice. They do show how traders are thinking about this range.
- The range: Rekt Capital has Bitcoin in a US$82.5K–US$86.7K range and says US$82.5K needs to hold (post).
- The bulls: Mister Crypto sees a weekly cup and handle building since the US$58K low (post) and an ascending triangle into US$86.6K (post). Crypto Rover is seeing a similar triangle (post). Donald Dean has a weekly bullish pennant with support near US$83.5K (post).
- Higher lows: Julian points out Bitcoin keeps making higher lows under a flat US$87K ceiling (post). Super฿ro reckons a squeeze is still on the cards (post).
- The bears: Phoenix flagged yet another failure at US$86.7K (post). Crypto with Haris makes the fair point that touching US$87K is not the same as breaking it (post). Martini Guy has been tracking the repeated rejections in this zone (post).
Put simply, US$87K is the line the bulls need to clear, and the low US$80Ks are where support has to hold.
Beyond Bitcoin: What Else Is Moving
- Altcoins: TOTAL3, the total crypto market cap without BTC and ETH, is testing a major breakout level while holding around US$1.35 trillion (post). Michaël van de Poppe sees altcoins coiling up, with a possible breakout in October or November (post).
- Ethereum: ETH is sitting right at the edge of its channel. Breakout or fakeout is the big question (post).
- Quant (QNT): one of the standouts. It ran from about US$58 to about US$374 and broke through a long descending resistance line (post).
- Zcash (ZEC): a Winklevoss-linked spot Zcash ETF filing (ticker WINK) is getting attention, along with interest from Grayscale and Bitwise (post).
- Solana: record transactions and app revenue, plus an all-time high in tokenised stock volume of about US$4.4B in September (post). This is real world use, and it’s happening now.
- XRP: on Korea’s Upbit exchange, XRP/KRW briefly out-traded BTC/KRW, at about US$72M versus US$66M (post).
Thought for the Week: Do the Safe Thing
When the market gets choppy and the liquidations start rolling in, it’s a good reminder to ask one simple question. Who actually holds your crypto?
If it’s sitting on an exchange, you are trusting that exchange. If it’s in your own cold storage (hardware) wallet, you hold the keys. Not your keys, not your crypto.
That’s why we promote and sell the Quantum Crypto Tangem 3-card stealth wallet (NZ$137). Your keys stay offline on a card you hold, and you get two backup cards so you’re not relying on just one device. If you want to do this journey the safe way, this should be part of it. Have a look at our Tangem page for more.
New to the crypto-sphere? Grab our FREE Crypto 101 ebook. It’s a great place to start. And if you’d like one on one help getting set up properly, that’s exactly what we’re here for.
The future is here and the future is bright. See you next week.
Jeremy Stevenson
Quantum Crypto Consultants | Christchurch, New Zealand
Prices quoted are approximate snapshots from 1–9 October 2026, taken from Coinbase, CoinGecko and public posts on X, and may have changed since. Views quoted are those of the individual analysts. Quantum Crypto Consultants Limited is not a registered financial advisor. We do not provide financial advice. Investors must be aware of the risk involved with investing in digital assets and anything crypto or blockchain related. The price of Bitcoin and other Crypto assets, like real goods and commodities, are subject to large swings in value and at any time might become worthless. Never invest more than you can afford to lose.