Bitcoin volatile, but flat, while crypto stocks bounce amid cooling AI fears
TL;DR
Bitcoin remains volatile but flat around $67,000, while crypto stocks bounce as AI fears cool and geopolitical tensions rise, with gold and oil surging.
Key Takeaways
- •Bitcoin shows high volatility with swings between $67,000 and $68,500, but ends up flat, while Ether dips slightly.
- •Crypto-related stocks like Coinbase and miners outperform stagnant cryptocurrencies, gaining 3%-5% or more.
- •Geopolitical risks increase as Polymarket odds of U.S. strikes on Iran top 50%, driving gold and oil prices higher.
- •Traditional markets see relief with tech stocks bouncing as AI disruption concerns cool, boosting indices like the Nasdaq.
What to know:
- Despite a small handful of thousand-dollar swings, bitcoin remains in the $67,000 area in late-morning U.S. trade.
- Gold reclaimed $5,000, and oil jumped as Polymarket odds of U.S. strikes on Iran before mid-March topped 50%.
- Crypto stocks bounced, outperforming stagnant cryptocurrencies.
- Despite a small handful of thousand-dollar swings, bitcoin remains in the $67,000 area in late-morning U.S. trade.
- Gold reclaimed $5,000, and oil jumped as Polymarket odds of U.S. strikes on Iran before mid-March topped 50%.
- Crypto stocks bounced, outperforming stagnant cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin BTC$66,683.65 can't seem to pick a direction, wildly swinging in the early hours of the Wednesday U.S. session with dips quickly bought and bounces erased just as fast.
Losing its overnight push above $68,500, BTC dumped below $67,000 at the start of U.S. trading. Buyers quickly stepped in, driving a sharp rebound to $68,300, but the bounce proved fleeting with prices quickly falling back to $67,000. Ether (ETH) followed a similar path, dipping back below $2,000 and down roughly 1% over the past 24 hours.
Part of the crosscurrents came from traditional markets. On one hand, a steadier tone in risk assets came as concerns around artificial intelligence disruption in the tech sector cooled. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV), a proxy for the software sector that had been under pressure over the past weeks, bounced 1.9% in morning trading, suggesting some relief.
The broader Nasdaq was higher by 1.3% and the S&P 500 by 0.85%>
On the other hand, geopolitical jitters are back as traders increasingly brace for potential escalation between the U.S. and Iran. Traders on the prediction market Polymarket now assign more than 50% odds that the U.S. will launch strikes against Iran before March 15, up from about 30% just a day ago.
Gold climbed 2.5% to reclaim the $5,000 level, while silver surged 6%. U.S. crude oil jumped more than 3% to above $64 a barrel, underscoring heightened supply risks.
Despite the choppy crypto price action, crypto-related equities were bouncing. Exchange giant Coinbase (COIN), stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) and digital asset investment firm Galaxy (GLXY) were all 3%-5% higher.
Miners and AI-linked data center plays such as Riot Platforms (RIOT) and IREN (IREN) outperformed further, with each posting gains of 5.5%.
- BTC trades near $67,000 and ETH near $1,970, with volatility fading after Feb. 5’s selloff.
- Derivatives show stabilization, with open interest at $15.38 billion and funding positive
- Elevated short-term implied volatility signals caution.
- $218 million in liquidations and 97 of top 100 tokens in the red underscore fragile sentiment.
Disclosure & Polices: CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.