Crypto majors held their ground on Tuesday, even as the macro band turned sharply against risk assets.
Bitcoin traded just above $81,000 in Asian morning hours on Tuesday after briefly touching $82,026 overnight. Solana (SOL) and were the standout among the bigs, rising as much as 2% on the day. BNB added 1.7% to $662, XRP held at $1.46, up 0.9% on the day, while ether fell 0.8%.
Investor Michael Burry, who rose to fame on The Big Short for calling the 2008 housing collapse, warned in a Substack post that the Nasdaq 100 is trading at 43 times earnings, well above the implied level of about 30 times, and compared the current setup to “the scene of the bloody car crash, minutes before it happens.”
Burry singled out the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index’s 70% rally since late March as the centerpiece of what he called a parabolic rise in technology valuations, and advised readers to take profits and reduce exposure to the AI trade.
“Wall Street may be overestimating the earnings of our fastest-growing, highest-valued companies by more than 50%,” Burry wrote.
Brent crude zoomed nearly 1% to above $105 a barrel. barrel after President Donald Trump cast doubt on the ceasefire with Iran in remarks on Monday, raising concerns that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz will be extended. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.42% and the dollar strengthened against all its Group-of-10 peers on safe-haven demand.
Stock markets across Asia retreated from record highs. The Kospi fell as much as 5.1% on the day after a top South Korean politician proposed paying citizens a dividend funded by taxes on AI profits, with the comments sparking sharp swings as investors tried to analyze the scope of the proposal.
MSCI’s Asia Pacific index swung between gains and losses. European futures pointed to a 0.6% loss at the open. U.S. futures edged lower after the S&P 500 closed at a record high on Monday, snapping a six-week winning streak that rose more than 16%, the strongest run since the global financial crisis.
Bitcoin’s price action is likely to be tested later Tuesday as investors watch U.S. inflation pressures, which will show how much of the war-driven price pressures have fed through to consumer prices and could shape the outlook for Federal Reserve interest rate decisions.
A hot number on top of fresh Iran tensions and Burry’s bear call would put real pressure on the AI trading thesis underpinning the stock rally, while a soft print buys risk assets, including crypto, another week of space.
