Bitcoin’s $BTC$64,768.11 The very slight rebound from the overnight selloff quickly disappeared during Monday morning US trading as broader risk markets fell sharply.
Bitcoin, which was trading at $65,400 near noon on the East Coast, has fallen 35% in the past 24 hours.
The move came as U.S. stocks fell. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 each fell more than 1% due to renewed weakness in software and private equity stocks.
The iShares Expanded Tech Software ETF (IGV) fell another 5% to a 52-week low, and has fallen nearly 35% since October amid concerns that generative AI tools could disrupt traditional software business models. True or not, the current market mindset is that cryptocurrencies are just software, and the recent price movements of Bitcoin and IGV are almost perfectly correlated.
Adding to this bearish theme are continuing concerns that AI could lead the market to the culmination of a major negative credit event similar to the 2008 global financial crisis. This is now reflected in private equity stock prices. These companies are heavily involved in the aforementioned software areas. Blow Owl Capital (OWL), which sold assets last week to appease investors looking for liquidity, fell another 3.5% on Monday and is down 32% year-to-date. Blackstone (BX), Ares Management (ARES), and Apollo Global Management (APO) all extended their recent deep losses, falling between 6% and 8%.
Cryptocurrencies often trade as high-beta proxies for technology and broader liquidity conditions, and Monday’s weakness reflected that dynamic. meanwhile $BTC So far, it is above its worst lows in early February, but it is still trading in a narrow range between $60,000 and $70,000 as risk appetite remains fragile.
Joel Krueger, market strategist at LMAX Group, said in a note that there is added uncertainty surrounding global tariffs after the Supreme Court cracked down on President Trump’s previous use of large levies.
“This created a classic risk-off environment,” Krueger said. “Investors are exiting speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies, and Bitcoin is behaving more like a high-beta risk play than ‘digital gold.’”
