Bitcoin Price Volatility Amid Tech Stock Selloff
“The midterms change a lot of things, including the Fed,” wrote strategist Robin Brooks on Thursday morning, as markets grappled with a sharp retreat in risk assets. Bitcoin fell 5% over the 24-hour period to $76,500 on Thursday, tracking closely with a 4% slide in the Nasdaq as investors offloaded artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks, CoinDesk reported. While bitcoiners have long theorized that the cryptocurrency would serve as a safe-haven asset during market turbulence, Thursday’s trading saw investors flock to gold instead, which rose 1.1% to $4,116 per ounce.
Chipmaker Shares Decline Amid Weak Smartphone Demand
The selloff hit AI-linked equities particularly hard. Major chipmakers saw their stocks decline as investors reacted to soft smartphone chip sales guidance. AMD and Qualcomm shares each fell 10.6% and 10%, respectively, following concerns over smartphone chip demand and memory shortages. As equity markets faced pressure, fixed-income assets saw a brief rally; the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell 3 basis points to 4.86%, reaching its lowest level since Labor Day.
Crypto-Related Stock Performance
Publicly traded firms with heavy exposure to crypto and data center operations faced double-digit declines. Miners and infrastructure providers, including Keel Infrastructure (KEEL) and Cipher Mining (CIFR), saw shares fall 17% and 14.4%, respectively. Other industry-linked stocks also trended lower: Coinbase (COIN) fell 7.8%, Robinhood (HOOD) dropped 10%, and MicroStrategy (MSTR) declined 8.3%. Hut 8 (HUT), which recently faced a 23% drop following the Texas governor’s race, continued to trade lower by 5% in pre-market action. StoneX Mark Palmer maintained a $165 price target for the company, citing the value of its Louisiana-based assets despite the uncertainty surrounding its Texas facility.
Jobless Claims Fall to a Sixty-Year Low
Bitcoin held steady at $80,000 through the night before beginning to slip. According to CoinDesk, the market reacted positively after Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress, which some analysts suggested could lead to a quicker resolution of the Iran conflict and lower inflation.
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