From the Blackmint News archive. Prices and details may have changed since publication.
Bitcoin Gives Back Its Election Gains as Nasdaq 100 Drops 5%
Ether fell harder, down 7.1% to about $2,266. Bitcoin's CoinGecko price is now its lowest daily reading since Sept. 18, a day after $80,000.
Bitcoin fell 5.2% over 24 hours to about $76,450 at 11:55 a.m. ET Thursday, per CoinGecko, as a selloff in chip stocks pulled the Nasdaq 100 down 5.2% by late morning.
That erases Wednesday's bounce. Black Mint reported Wednesday that bitcoin had climbed back above $80,000, and Investopedia put the day's high above $81,000. Thursday's price is the lowest daily reading in CoinGecko's data since Sept. 18.
Chipmakers led the slide
A gauge of chip giants fell 10% and Nvidia slid 8%, a Bloomberg markets wrap showed at 11:11 a.m. ET. The S&P 500 was down 3.1%. Bloomberg tied the selling to speculation that congressional Democrats, who won Tuesday's midterms, will tighten rules on the artificial-intelligence industry.
Chris Murphy of Susquehanna International Group said in the same wrap that investors are worried about the pace and funding of AI spending now that more regulation is on the table. Not everyone agreed. Bob Edwards of Edwards Asset Management said he was "not concerned" about what the election means for AI, since "the president still has the veto pen."
Ether dropped further. It was down 7.1% at about $2,266, per CoinGecko.
How a sell-off feeds itself
Many crypto traders borrow to bet on price moves. When the price runs against a borrowed bet and the trader's collateral (the deposit backing the loan) runs short, the exchange closes the position automatically. Those forced sales add to the selling and can push the price lower still. On Wednesday the same machinery ran in reverse, squeezing traders who had bet on a fall.
Bonds caught a bid as stocks fell. The 10-year Treasury yield slipped five basis points to 4.84%, Bloomberg's data showed.
In our opinion: two days, two stories. Wednesday's bounce came largely from short bets being forced shut, and Thursday's drop came as bitcoin traded alongside chip stocks rather than apart from them. The number worth watching is $80,000; until bitcoin gets back above it, the election rally is undone on paper.
Sources: CoinGecko (bitcoin) · CoinGecko (ether) · Bloomberg markets wrap via swissinfo.ch · Investopedia, Stock Market Today (Nov. 5) · Business Insider, AI stock selloff
Revisions
First published .
No revisions since publication.
We fix errors and say so. See every correction on the Blackmint corrections page.