Bitcoin BTC$70,390.83 Cryptocurrency decline worsens before stock trading begins in the US, dropping below $70,000
The largest cryptocurrency fell to $69.917.20, with sentiment further falling into “extreme fear”, according to CoinDesk data. The Fear and Greed Index is 11, a level that has only been reached a few times in the past.
The decline was largely confined to digital assets and metals as the broader US stock market showed resilience. Gold fell more than 1% to below $4,900 an ounce, and silver fell more than 11% to below $79 an ounce.
In contrast, U.S. stocks were slightly higher in premarket trading. The Invesco QQQ exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, rose 0.05%.
However, stocks exposed to Bitcoin continued to decline. Strategy (MSTR), the largest listed holder of the largest cryptocurrency, has fallen more than 5% and is nearly 80% below its all-time high in November 2024. The company is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter results later Thursday.
Other Bitcoin treasury companies such as Strive (ASST) and Nakamoto (NAKA) are down about 6%.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) fell another 2%, while rival Burish, owner of CoinDesk, fell 0.4%.
There is a mix of AI miners linked to Bitcoin. IREN (IREN) is down 3% and Cipher Mining (CIFR) is down 2%, following a plunge of about 15% each on Wednesday. Major miners with large amounts of Bitcoin, including Riot (RIOT), MARA Holdings (MARA), and CleanSpark (CLSK), are all down around 3%.
The slightly higher iShares Expanded Tech Software ETF (IGV) could provide some relief if the correlation holds. This is an industry sector that Bitcoin has historically tracked closely. Meanwhile, Google (GOOG) fell 3% despite beating fourth-quarter profit estimates after it said it would increase capital spending by $175 billion to $185 billion, with estimated spending of about $119.5 billion.
Updated (February 4, 11:45 UTC): Add pre-market stock movements starting in the fifth paragraph.
