Bitcoin tumbled 6% to $72,000 on Thursday as the sell-off in global tech spilled into Asia, keeping traders defensive across crypto and equities after another bruising session on Wall Street.
Fresh liquidation data showed forced selling accelerated as prices slid. CoinGlass data showed $627.96M in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with $497.10M from longs and $130.86M from shorts.
Bitcoin liquidations led at $255.4M, followed by Ether at $181.75M and Solana at $70.84M, with another $24.09M spread across smaller tokens.
Market snapshot
- Bitcoin: $72,209, down 5.1%
- Ether: $2,137, down 5.3%
- XRP: $1.47, down 7.2%
- Total crypto market cap: $2.53 trillion, down 4.4%
Asian Equities Slide As Tech Jitters Weigh On Risk Appetite
In Asia, markets opened on the back foot. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1%, South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.7% and Taiwan’s benchmark lost 0.7%. China’s CSI300 slid 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng eased 0.8%, with Japan’s Nikkei flat.
Sentiment stayed fragile on AI spending fears after Alphabet flagged $175B to $185B in capital expenditure, sending its shares swinging before settling 0.4% lower after-hours.
Samer Hasn, senior market analyst at XS.com, said the crypto asset is currently suffering from weak overall sentiment in the broader stock market amid the battle for the AI throne and tumbling liquidity.
“Futures traders are retreating further, and spot ETF flows remain unsustainable. Meanwhile, the risk of a broader all-out war in the Middle East, combined with the anticipation of new economic data and corporate earnings, is keeping traders on edge,” he said.
Market Focus Shifts To Earnings And Delayed Jobs Data
Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday as investors questioned pricey valuations and whether the AI rally has started to peak. The S&P 500 fell 0.51%, the Nasdaq dropped 1.51% and the Dow rose 0.53% to 49,501.30.
Chip stocks drove much of the damage. Advanced Micro Devices tumbled 17% after forecasting quarterly revenue that disappointed investors, Nvidia slid 3.4%, and the PHLX semiconductor index sank 4.4%, while Palantir fell nearly 12% after reversing the prior day’s surge.
Even so, futures tried to stabilize as traders weighed the implications of heavier equipment spending. Nvidia rose almost 2% after the bell, lifting Nasdaq futures 0.6% and S&P 500 futures 0.4%, as investors rotated away from expensive growth names and into value and cyclicals, with the S&P 500 value index extending gains for a fifth straight session.
Macro signals stayed in motion. The January US jobs report was pushed to Feb. 11 after a four-day government shutdown. ADP data showed weaker private payroll growth, with job losses in services and manufacturing.
In commodities, oil fell after two days of gains as the US and Iran agreed to hold talks in Oman on Friday. West Texas Intermediate slipped 1.4% to $64.23 a barrel and Brent also fell 1.4% to $68.47, while gold and silver ticked higher in early trade after last Friday’s sharp drop.
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