Bitcoin quickly retreated in morning trading in the United States on Thursday, falling 2% in minutes after once again failing to overcome what became strong resistance.
The largest cryptocurrency fell to around $73,500 during the morning session in the United States, a drop of more than 1% in the last 24 hours. The move came after the crypto was pushed back again after surpassing $75,000.
At the same time, the breathtaking stock market rally – which propelled the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to record highs yesterday – has paused. A little over an hour into the session, both indexes were down about 0.1%.
Crypto-related stocks also fell across the board. Coinbase (COIN), Strategy (MSTR), Robinhood (HOOD), and Circle (CRCL) were all down around 2-3% in morning trading.
At the same time, crude oil prices rose around 2%, regaining the $90 level, as lingering geopolitical tensions continued to fuel supply concerns.
The $75,000 to $76,000 range is key for bitcoin, as that was the level it was trading at before the February 5 stock market crash that sent BTC tumbling to $60,000. A rise beyond this level could suggest a larger move that could bring prices back to around the $90,000 mark where bitcoin began the year.
Software is catching up with Bitcoin
Bitcoin and software stocks were moving almost in lockstep before the Middle East conflict in late February, with a correlation close to 1:1. During this period, bitcoin outperformed the IGV, the software ETF.
Since the conflict began in late February, bitcoin has gained more than 11%, while IGV has risen about 2%, giving rise to a rumor that bitcoin was starting to decouple from software stocks.
However, over the past five days, IGV has caught up and increased by as much as 11%, while bitcoin remained stable. This suggests that instead of a clear decoupling, software may simply be behind Bitcoin and is now playing catch-up.
IGV is up 1% on Thursday, while bitcoin is down 1.5%.
