Bitcoin fell below $69,000 on Thursday as a broader pullback in risk assets gathered pace as early optimism around Iran-US peace and eased tensions in the Middle East faded.
The largest crypto lost more than 3% from its overnight high above $71,000, while major altcoins ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), Solana’s SOL (SOL) and Cardano’s ADA (ADA) dipped 4%-5% in the same period.
Oil prices remain the barometer for the broader market. Crude oil futures rose about 4%, reversing earlier declines and reinforcing concerns about inflation and supply disruptions linked to the Iran conflict.
U.S. stocks were off their lows just after midday on the East Coast, led by the Nasdaq’s 1.4% drop. Bond yields were significantly higher: the US 10-year Treasury rose 7 basis points to 4.40% and the 10-year German Bund rose 10.5 basis points to 3.06%.
Notably, all Magnificent Seven stocks are now all off double-digit percentages from their all-time highs, with NVIDIA (NVDA) down 18%, Meta (META) 30%, Amazon (AMZN) 20%, Alphabet (GOOG) 19%, Microsoft (MSFT) 34%, Tesla (TSLA) 18% (TSLA) (42%).
“Looking ahead, the near-term trajectory is likely to remain tied to macro developments,” said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group.
A clearer path toward de-escalation could push risk assets, including bitcoin, higher, he said, while continued uncertainty could keep them stuck in a bumpy range.
Crypto-related stocks also had big losses: Coinbase (COIN), Circle (CRCL), and Strategi (MSTR) fell 3%-4%.
The biggest losses came from bitcoin miners, almost all of whom are either in transition or have fully transitioned to being AI infrastructure plays and are thus tied more to technology in general rather than crypto prices. Hut 8 (HUT) fell 8.6%, while IREN (IREN) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) fell more than 7%. TeraWulf (WULF) and HIVE Digital (HIVE) also showed steep declines.
WhiteFiber ( WYFI ) shares fell 14% after its fourth-quarter results showed worsening fundamentals, with a net loss widening to $1.5 million and a full-year loss of $24.7 million. WhiteFiber’s parent company, Bit Digital ( BTBT ), saw its shares fall about 8%.
A few names bucked the trend. MARA Holdings (MARA) rose 8.7% after reporting the sale of $1.1 billion in bitcoin to pay down debt.
