Short Description:
Bitcoin drops to $68K as a tech selloff drags crypto lower. AI fears hit Nasdaq, gold tumbles, and altcoins slide—here’s what’s moving markets.
Read Time: 3 minutes 30 seconds
Main Article
The cryptocurrency market extended its slide on Tuesday morning, tracking a broad selloff in U.S. technology stocks and a sharp correction in precious metals. Bitcoin was down 1.25% to trade near $68,000, while popular altcoins and memecoins like PEPE, DOGE, and TRUMP saw steeper declines of 3.5%–4.5%. The weakness reflects a market volatility spike driven by investor anxiety over how artificial intelligence could disrupt multiple sectors. Bitcoin’s correlation with the tech-heavy Nasdaq has surged in recent weeks, turning from negative to strongly positive, indicating that crypto prices are moving in lockstep with equity market sentiment.
Simultaneously, gold failed to hold above the key $5,000 support level, trading around $4,928 after a historic 21.5% plunge from its late-January peak. This precious metals selloff has removed a traditional safe-haven cushion, amplifying pressure across risk assets. In derivatives markets, data shows continued capital outflows. The total crypto futures open interest fell 1.5% to $93 billion, hitting multi-month lows. Leveraged long positions bore the brunt of the selling, with $229 million in bullish bets liquidated over 24 hours. The pullback in Bitcoin and Ethereum’s implied volatility indices suggests the peak panic may have eased, though put options still trade at a premium to calls, signaling lingering caution.
Despite the broad downturn, a few tokens bucked the trend. The AI-related token MORPHO gained 23.5% over the past week, while privacy coin Zcash rose 19%. However, these were outliers in a sea of red. Most altcoins continued to track Bitcoin’s direction, with the Bitcoin dominance metric holding steady between 57.4% and 60.1% since September. For traders, the key question is whether the current pullback represents a healthy correction or the start of a deeper slump. Many are watching for a bullish trading catalyst—such as renewed institutional inflows or positive regulatory developments—to reignite momentum in digital asset markets.
Short Summary
Bitcoin and major altcoins declined alongside technology stocks and gold, pressured by AI disruption fears and fading safe-haven demand. Derivatives data shows shrinking open interest and liquidations, though market panic has moderated slightly. While a few AI and privacy tokens posted gains, the broader crypto market remains in a holding pattern, closely correlated to equity markets and awaiting a fresh catalyst to reverse the slide.
