Bitcoin fell below the $71,000 mark in Asian hours on Thursday as a fresh sell-off in global technology stocks spread to crypto markets, undermining hopes of a sustained rally after last week’s volatility.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 7.5% in the last 24 hours, hitting lows near $70,700 before paring some losses, according to data from CoinDesk.
The move followed sharp declines in Asian stocks, where growing concerns about artificial intelligence spending, overblown valuations and slowing earnings momentum kept investors away from risk assets.
MSCI’s Asian technology index fell for the fifth time in six sessions, led by heavy losses in South Korea’s Kospi, which fell around 4% as heavyweight AI-linked stocks came under pressure.
The weakness followed a decline in the Nasdaq during US trading, where disappointing earnings from companies including Alphabet, Qualcomm and Arm reinforced fears that AI investment may be peaking faster than expected.
Bitcoin has increasingly been traded as a high-beta risk asset during stock-driven declines, particularly when liquidity is tight and macroeconomic uncertainty increases.
The latest drop comes after Bitcoin suffered a brief jolt earlier this week, falling towards $73,000 before bouncing above $76,000, in a move that some traders said was a sign of fragile conviction rather than a clear trend reversal.
“Bitcoin’s move below $70,000 has accelerated broader deleveraging, clearing the crowded positioning created during the post-ETF rally,” Wenny Cai, chief operating officer at Synfutures, said in a Telegram message. “Liquidations have been large, risk-off sentiment has shifted and price action is now being driven more by balance sheet mechanics than narrative flow.”
“This does not signal the end of institutional participation, but it does signal the end of complacency,” Cai added.
The pressure was compounded by strong moves in raw materials. Silver plummeted as much as 17% and gold fell more than 3%, extending a brutal decline that has already caused sharp sell-offs of tokenized metal products in crypto centers.
