Bitcoin slips in risk-off move as Nasdaq stocks take a hit

Cryptocurrencies began the last week of January after hitting a new record high during a market cooling period and a DeepSeek-driven sell-off in tech stocks.

the price of bitcoin It fell 3% to $100,776.81, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it was down to $97,750.00. The broader cryptocurrency market, measured CoinDesk 20 the index fell by 7%.

The Nasdaq was down more than 3%

shares of Coinbase and Microstrategy They fell by around 6% and 4%, respectively. Bitcoin miners working on AI faced deeper restrictions. Basic Science 28% slipped, on the other hand Terawulf He lost 25%. Irenformerly known as Iris Energy, fell 22%.

Crypto came under pressure from a rout in tech stocks. Chinese startup DeepSeek said it has created a competitive model of artificial intelligence at a fraction of the cost, sparking Concerns about US AI dominance and Big Tech spending on AI models and data centers.

“Today’s 3% decline in Nasdaq futures (on DeepSeek news) has fueled Digital Asset liquidation overnight,” Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick said in a note on Monday. “This relationship highlights the strong (and strengthening) relationship between digital assets and the tech sector. (Bitcoin) remains highly correlated with the Nasdaq, much more so than gold.”

Bitcoin has seen more than $250 million in long settlements in the last 24 hours, According to CoinglassTraders using leverage that would continue to push the price of Bitcoin were forced to sell assets to cover their losses.

The sell-off follows the market’s mixed response to the expected inauguration of President Donald Trump crypto executive orderPosted on Thursday, and no news since then. Some crypto traders were disappointed the order they weren’t fully committed to establishing a repository, and some didn’t care about the “repository” as anything more than a language reserve. While the latter would involve actively buying bitcoins in common fractions, a repository would not sell any of the bitcoins currently held by the US government. Bitcoin has a new album More than $109,000 last week in anticipation of the executive order.

“Ultimately, this made selling digital assets more risky whether or not the driver of the commodity came from digital assets (in this case the Nasdaq),” Kendrick said of the market’s initial reaction to the demand. . “However, at least the Trump administration news is there, so the disappointment/confusion and thus the ‘hope phase’ is over.”

Investors may also be risk-averse ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting, which ends on Wednesday.

“Investors expect the Fed to be more accommodative, but fear the Fed is not what the market would like to see,” said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX. “The most important takeaway right now is to see the forest for the trees. When we look at the Bitcoin chart, there is nothing bearish about the price action.”

– CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.