Bitcoin accelerated its decline ahead of U.S. equity market open, slipping below $70,000 to a low of $69,917.20 per CoinDesk data. Sentiment plunged into "extreme fear," with the Crypto Fear and Greed Index hitting 11 — a level seen only a handful of times historically.
Crypto and Metals Slump While Equities Hold Up
The selloff remained largely confined to digital assets and precious metals. Gold fell over 1% to below $4,900 per ounce, while silver tumbled more than 11% to under $79 per ounce. In contrast, U.S. equity futures edged higher in pre-market trading, with the Invesco QQQ ETF tracking the Nasdaq 100 up 0.05%.
Bitcoin-Exposed Stocks Under Pressure; MSTR Near 80% Off High
Companies with large bitcoin treasuries extended losses. Strategy (MSTR), the largest publicly traded bitcoin holder, declined over 5% and is now nearly 80% below its all-time high from November 2024. The company is due to report Q4 earnings Thursday after the close. Other bitcoin treasury names such as Strive (ASST) and Nakamoto (NAKA) fell roughly 6%.
Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) dropped another 2%, while Bullish, owner of CoinDesk, was down 0.4%. Bitcoin-linked AI miners showed mixed performance: IREN (IREN) fell 3%, Cipher Mining (CIFR) dropped 2%, following steep losses of around 15% each on Wednesday. Major miners including Riot (RIOT), MARA Holdings (MARA), and CleanSpark (CLSK) each fell approximately 3%.
Tech Software ETF Edges Up, Google Falls Despite Earnings Beat
Some potential relief could emerge if historical correlations hold: the iShares Expanded Tech Software ETF (IGV), which Bitcoin has tracked closely, was slightly higher. Meanwhile, Alphabet (GOOG) slipped 3% despite beating Q4 profit forecasts, after announcing higher capital expenditures of $185 billion, up from $175 billion, with estimated spending of about $119.5 billion.