Bitcoin steadies near $81,700 as altcoins rebound, pepe climbs 13%

Bitcoin BTC $84,459.46 rose 0.5% to around $81,700 since midnight UTC, outpaced by altcoins. Ether ETH $2,490.55 rose 0.9% and the CoinDesk 80 (CD80) altcoin index added 0.7% while the memecoin gauge climbed 2.9%. The rebound follows Thursday’s tech-led selloff, during which the Nasdaq Composite index fell 2.6% in its steepest decline since June. Asian markets steadied as South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3% and China’s CSI 300 rose 1.7% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.25%. Traders now look to the Fed’s Oct. 27-28 meeting, with Brent crude near $113 keeping inflation worries alive, and to exchange-traded fund flows, after U.S.