Ether was further below its morning price than Bitcoin on Coinbase late on October 14, as both assets traded below their rolling opening references following the release of September's U.S. inflation data. The evening snapshot reverses the earlier picture of almost unchanged prices between fixed observations, with a larger measured decline for ETH.
Sequential Coinbase Exchange requests retrieved at approximately 20:43 UTC put Bitcoin at $81,694.27 and Ether at $2,418.31. Against the endpoint's rolling opens, the changes were about -1.97% for BTC and -3.57% for ETH. Those are single-exchange observations, not consolidated market prices or returns measured from midnight.
The morning checkpoint makes the day's change clearer
Our earlier October 14 report recorded approximately 07:49 UTC trades of $83,383.31 for Bitcoin and $2,505.16 for Ether. Comparing the latest observations with that fixed checkpoint gives declines of approximately 2.03% and 3.47%, respectively. Ether's loss on this measure was about 1.44 percentage points greater.
The distinction between a percentage and a percentage point matters. It would be wrong to describe Ether as merely 1.44% lower than Bitcoin's return. The comparison subtracts the two return percentages; it does not divide one asset's price by the other's or estimate a portfolio's loss.
The two methods also have different starting points. Today's rolling opens were $83,339.65 for BTC and $2,507.82 for ETH. The fixed morning trades stay constant for this comparison, while the endpoint's opening references can change as the observation window advances. They should not be labelled as the same return.
Inflation accelerated, with energy doing much of the work
The Bureau of Labor Statistics release put September's headline Consumer Price Index increase at 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis and 3.7% over twelve months before seasonal adjustment. The annual rate increased from August's 3.4%.
Gasoline rose 9.1% over the month and accounted for more than half the headline monthly increase. The energy index rose 5.2%. Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.3% monthly and 2.6% annually. The headline acceleration therefore needs to be read alongside its components, rather than treated as an identical rise in every consumer category.
These figures provide the day's macroeconomic context. They do not announce a Federal Reserve decision. The Fed's explanation of its inflation objective identifies the price index for personal consumption expenditures as its measure for the longer-run 2% goal. CPI and PCE are different indexes, so a CPI result is not a direct reading of that target measure.
A higher inflation reading can affect expectations for financing conditions and the attractiveness of risky assets. But establishing today's change in rate expectations would require a verified market series or forecast comparison. This report does not supply either and does not describe a future rate move as settled.
The latest trades remain close to the rolling lows
Coinbase reported a BTC range from $81,416.67 to $84,062.11, and an ETH range from $2,413.81 to $2,527.60. The latest trades were approximately 0.34% and 0.19% above the lows. Neither had recovered to its rolling opening reference.
Bitcoin was approximately 2.82% below its reported high, while Ether was approximately 4.32% below its own. These distances describe the current window's extremes. They are not proven support or resistance, and the endpoint does not identify exactly when those highs and lows occurred.
The morning report used lower-range figures from a different window and explained that older extreme trades can expire. Today's lower latest prices add a separate observation: there has been an actual decline between the two fixed checkpoints, rather than only a change in the range boundaries being counted.
The data does not isolate the inflation announcement's effect
The BLS release was issued at 08:30 U.S. Eastern time, or 12:30 UTC on October 14. The morning and evening checkpoints sit on opposite sides of that release, but they span many hours. They do not provide the prices immediately before and after publication or isolate other developments during the interval.
It is therefore more precise to say that the measured declines occurred across a period containing the inflation release than to assign every trade to CPI. The BTC statistics and ETH statistics do not identify investor motives, ETF flows, derivatives positioning or liquidations.
Our liquidity guide explains why the last trade also differs from the execution available to an order of a particular size. A lower quotation alone does not establish how much selling a market can absorb or whether displayed bids will remain available.
The next useful comparison is another timestamped observation against the same fixed morning benchmark, alongside any independently verified position or flow data. For now, the supported conclusion is that both assets are below that checkpoint, Ether has fallen further in percentage terms, and September inflation adds relevant context without proving a single cause.