LIVE: Why US stocks are crashing today

The crypto market is taking a hit alongside US stocks on Thursday, with Bitcoin falling below $82,000 and other major cryptocurrencies losing ground as selling picks up across digital assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $81,519.20, down 3.58%, bringing its total market value to $1.64 trillion. Trading activity increased, with the figures showing $72.54 billion and a 28.05% jump in the accompanying activity measure.

Ethereum (ETH) sank 4.59% to $2,395.23, leaving its market valuation at $292.08 billion. Solana (SOL) lost 3.84% to $104.51, while its valuation stood at $61.61 billion.

The declines have affected other smaller coins. HYPE declined by 4.67% to trade at $77.813, with a market capitalization of $19.74 billion. XRP declined by 4.19% to trade at $1.3207 with a capitalization of $83.23 billion.

The derivatives markets also experienced an indication of the exit of the traders as the total number of outstanding positions fell to $142.96 billion from 3.27%.

Also, crypto liquidations rose by 51.67% to stand at $373.87 million indicating the amount that leveraged trades were wiped out during the market sell-off.

The average Relative Strength Index (RSI) stood at 42.85 in the neutral range. The Altcoin Season Index also stood at 64, also in the neutral range.

However, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index remained unchanged at 67 with sentiment falling in the greed range even amidst the losses.

The Bitcoin market dominance decreased by 0.10% to fall at 60.09%. Exchange holdings increased by 32,360 BTC taking the total holding to 2.49 million Bitcoins.

Gold futures fell by 2.13% to stand at $4,053.15, while the XAU instrument fell 2% to stand at $4,060.24.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index remained unchanged at 101.628, appreciating 0.02%.

Individual cryptocurrency activity was mixed, with Coinglass reporting the figures in dollars at $40.85 billion for Ethereum, $6.08 billion for Solana, $2.84 billion for XRP, and $1.96 billion for Hyperliquid, along with percentage increases of 14.68%, 7.69%, 7.07%, and -1.82%, respectively.

For XAU, the equivalent figure stood at $6.44 billion, with a percentage increase of 71.46%.

US stocks are crashing on Thursday because investors remain worried about how much money tech giants are pouring into AI.

On the other hand, the rising tension between Trump, Israel, and Iran has once again sent the price of crude oil up, causing more headaches for Wall Street. The Nasdaq composite index fell 2.1% which was the most of the three indices. The S&P 500 fell by 1.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 279 points or 0.5%.

Meta Platforms was one of the biggest laggards as well, with its stock losing 5% despite the fact that the company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenues and provided investors with a favorable outlook. However, this did not manage to ease worries about the huge sums being invested in AI.

Meanwhile, data from Google Finance shows that AMD crashed by more than 5%, Micron lost 2%, and Nvidia slumped by about 1%.

CoreWeave, one of the top players in the neocloud space, was down nearly 4%. CoreWeave’s bonds still yield much higher than average, and its credit default swaps (CDS) are still quite high, indicating that investors are still concerned about the risks associated with its borrowings.

Interestingly, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told reporters on Thursday that demand for neocloud services is “off the charts.” But there’s a problem.

Jensen said capital is becoming harder to secure, and that shortage of funding is holding back growth even as demand continues to soar.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin shares rose more than 3% after the US defense contractor reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Strong demand for fighter jets and missile defense systems helped the company raise both its revenue and earnings forecasts for 2026.

Lockheed forecasts annual revenue in the range of $80 billion to $82 billion, as opposed to its previous estimate which stood at $79.75 billion to $81.75 billion.

Looking beyond the realm of technology, oil prices surged amid concerns that another confrontation with Iran could be in the works.

Futures for Brent crude rose 3% to levels exceeding $112.45 per barrel, whereas West Texas Intermediate (WTI) surged 2% to top $99.95 per barrel. The spike is attributed to traders’ concern regarding potential disruptions in the Middle East.

President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday night that Washington was not holding negotiations with Iran, but warned that “something will happen fairly soon.” His remarks added to concerns about what could happen in the region after November’s US midterm elections.

Investors looking for somewhere safer to put their money turned to US Treasury bonds, pushing yields lower.

The 10-year Treasury yield benchmark declined by more than 9 basis points to 5.048%, while the 2-year Treasury yield decreased by 9 basis points to 4.733%. Bonds’ yield moves in an inverse relationship to their price, so that decline indicated higher demand for bonds.

The foreign exchange market was declining as well for a number of major currencies. The euro depreciated by 0.267% to $1.12, while the British pound depreciated by 0.217% to $1.337. The Australian dollar depreciated by 0.171% to $0.702.

Against the Japanese yen, the US dollar weakened by 0.588% to 157.2, the euro by 0.845% to 176.1, and the Australian dollar by 0.756% to 110.28.

On the other hand, the dollar depreciated by 0.121% against the Swiss franc to 0.823 and 0.085% against the Canadian dollar to 1.403. Additionally, the euro lost 0.084% against the British pound to 0.838, and the EUR/CHF pair decreased by 0.003 to 0.922.