Bitcoin slipped below $71,000 on Thursday as a fresh sell-off in global tech stocks spread across crypto markets, undermining hopes of a lasting rebound after last week’s volatility.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell 7.5% in the past 24 hours, hitting a low near $70,700 before paring some losses, according to CoinDesk data.
The move follows sharp declines in Asian stocks, where growing concerns over artificial intelligence spending, strained valuations and slowing earnings momentum have kept investors away from risky assets.
Asia’s MSCI technology index fell for the fifth time in six sessions, led by sharp losses in South Korea’s Kospi, which fell about 4% as heavyweight AI-related stocks came under pressure.
The weakness follows a fall in the Nasdaq during the US session, where disappointing earnings from companies including Alphabet, Qualcomm and Arm reinforced fears that investment in AI could peak faster than expected.
Bitcoin is increasingly traded as a high-beta risk asset during stock declines, particularly when liquidity is low and macroeconomic uncertainty increases.
The latest drop comes after bitcoin briefly fell earlier this week, falling to $73,000 before rebounding above $76,000, a move some traders called a sign of shaky conviction rather than a clear trend reversal.
“Bitcoin’s move below $70,000 has accelerated broader deleveraging, eliminating the crowded positioning built during the post-ETF rally,” Wenny Cai, COO at Synfutures, said in a Telegram message. “Liquidations have been massive, sentiment has turned away from risk and price action is now driven more by balance sheet mechanics than narrative flow.”
“This does not mean the end of institutional participation, but it does mark the end of complacency,” Cai added.
The pressure was compounded by sharp fluctuations in raw materials. Silver plunged as much as 17% and gold fell more than 3%, extending a sharp pullback that has already triggered heavy liquidations of tokenized metal products on crypto sites.
