Brent crude traded at $110 a barrel on Friday, October 23, after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had attacked tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. Crypto stocks are absorbing far more of the
Brent crude traded at $110 a barrel on Friday, October 23, after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had attacked tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. Crypto stocks are absorbing far more of the damage than Bitcoin itself. Riot Platforms and MARA Holdings have lost almost half their value in a month, while Bitcoin is down 5.6%. Rising oil prices are only part of the reason.
The Bitcoin price sits at $81,540, down 0.3% in 24 hours. So what is driving oil higher, and why are crypto stocks falling so much faster than the coin they track?
Because the tanker war in the Gulf has escalated. Brent rose 4% on Thursday to close at $113.17, its highest level since the spring, after Iran said it had struck ships using a route Tehran rejects. President Trump accused Iran of faking the attacks to lift prices before the November 3 midterms. The market didn’t wait for proof.
The bigger picture is striking. Brent started 2026 at $60.75 and is up 82% since. It now trades about 29% above its 365-day average of $85, a gap that CryptoQuant treats as a warning for Bitcoin.
BREAKING: Brent crude oil surges above $114/barrel for the first time since May 5th as US-Iran tensions escalate. pic.twitter.com/fCgXIJVlEr
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) October 23, 2026
Usually, slower gains. “When Brent settles into a strong upward trend, above its annual average, Bitcoin has often slowed down,” CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost wrote on Friday. Expensive oil feeds inflation, which keeps interest rates high and drains appetite for risk.
Bitcoin faces a tough macro backdrop as Brent holds above $100“Over the long term, we can see that when Brent settles into a strong upward trend, above its annual average, Bitcoin has often slowed down.” – By @Darkfost_Cocpic.twitter.com/LR7SfmXyUm
— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) October 23, 2026
The signal hasn’t been clean this time. Brent has held above its annual average since July 13, and Bitcoin has risen 31% over the same stretch, from $62,239 to about $81,700. The pressure shows up instead in where the rally stalled: below $88,000 in September.
CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju offered a contrarian view. His firm’s analyst consensus data ranks Brent and WTI among the most bearish commodities, with the bearish case pointing to $80 oil once the war premium fades. “Might be time to sell and rotate into Bitcoin,” he wrote.
Most bearish stocks and commodities by analyst consensus.Might be time to sell and rotate into Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/1ZkdMeE7v4
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) October 23, 2026
Because many of them are now AI stocks too. Bitcoin miners spent the past two years turning their power sites into AI data centers, often with borrowed money. That trade reversed after September’s hotter-than-expected inflation report, and the credit market made it worse: CoreWeave’s bond yields climbed toward 15%, a sign that lenders are getting nervous about debt-funded AI build-outs. CoreWeave also tops CryptoQuant’s list of the most bearish AI stocks.
Stock Change, Sept 22–Oct 22 Riot Platforms (RIOT) −48.3% MARA Holdings (MARA) −46.8% Galaxy Digital (GLXY) −43.7% Robinhood (HOOD) −22.3% Coinbase (COIN) −15.9% Strategy (MSTR) −12.9% Circle (CRCL) −8.4% iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) −5.7%Closing prices. Source: Yahoo Finance
Piper Sandler cut its price targets on MARA, Riot and Galaxy last week but kept Overweight ratings. Exchanges and brokers fell less, and Circle, whose revenue tracks interest rates rather than trading, held up best.
Bitcoin is holding just above its 50-day EMA at $80,870, a line it has closed above every day this month. The first support is $80,394, and below it $79,800, the floor of the range since October 10. A daily close under that level would point to the 200-day EMA near $76,230.
On the upside, $82,300 to $82,850 has capped every bounce this week. Above it, the September high near $87,200 is the next level that matters.
BTCUSDT 1D Chart
The post Oil Prices Climb Back Above $110 While Crypto Stocks Lose Up to 48% in a Month: Miners Are Falling Even Faster appeared first on Tokenist.
