Bitcoin abruptly surges back to $95K as tech slump continues on Wall Street

U.S. markets dipped for a fourth straight close on Tuesday, weighed down by continued selling in AI-linked tech stocks and fading risk appetite after Bitcoin briefly broke below $90,000 earlier in the day.

The Dow dropped 328 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.4%. The Nasdaq lost 0.6%, with all three major indexes clawing back from much steeper losses earlier in the session.

At session lows, the Dow had plunged nearly 700 points, the S&P sank 1.5%, and the Nasdaq was down over 2%.

Nvidia, long considered the poster child of 2025’s AI trade, fell more than 1% by the close, adding to its 10% drop this month. Amazon slid 3%, while Microsoft dropped 2%, as investors lightened up on the Magnificent Seven amid mounting valuation concerns.

Wall Street is now fixated on Nvidia’s earnings, set to hit after the bell Wednesday. Analysts polled by LSEG expect earnings of $1.25 a share, up 54% year-over-year, and $55 billion in revenue, a 57% jump.

Strong results could reignite the AI rally, boosting highly correlated names like Palantir, TSMC, and Super Micro Computer.

Just hours after sinking below $90,000 for the first time in seven months, Bitcoin snapped back, racing toward $94,000 in a stunning late-session reversal that caught short sellers flat-footed.

The rally helped pull the broader crypto market into the green, signaling that risk appetite may not be fully dead, at least not yet.

The move came without any clear catalyst, though some traders pointed to oversold conditions, a bounce in altcoin volumes, and liquidation-driven squeezes as likely triggers.

Volatility surged across exchanges, with derivatives traders rushing to cover bearish positions as prices surged.

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Katie Stockton, founder of Fairlead Strategies, told CNBC’s Squawk Box that while the market is oversold, the lack of a clear buy signal suggests the current pullback could stretch longer and push deeper.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Bitcoin was trading around $92,032, down 14% over the past month, moving nearly in lockstep with the broader equity selloff. Traders are dumping risk-on assets, including crypto and AI stocks, in favor of safer plays amid growing economic jitters.

Stockton warned that if momentum doesn’t shift soon, Bitcoin could drop to a key support zone between $78,000 and $80,000, which she called the lower boundary of its cyclical bull trend.

Breaking below that could mark a trend reversal. However, she maintained that the longer-term outlook remains positive, highlighting Bitcoin’s historical tendency to “stair-step higher” once conditions stabilize.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 slipped another 0.5%, heading for its fourth straight daily loss.

U.S. stocks tumbled again Tuesday, extending a multi-day selloff as investors pulled back from high-flying tech names and trimmed exposure to speculative trades.

The Dow fell 562 points, or 1.2%, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.1%, heading for its fourth straight losing session, the worst streak since August. The Nasdaq slid 1.5%, led by weakness in AI-linked names.

Nvidia, the poster child of this year’s AI euphoria, dropped another 2% ahead of its Q3 earnings due out Wednesday after the bell.

The chipmaker has now lost 10% this month, as traders grow wary of valuation excess and question whether the AI trade has legs. Amazon and Microsoft also slipped, with the rest of the Magnificent Seven coming under pressure.

The pullback comes as concerns mount over stretched tech multiples, the flood of Big Tech bond issuance, and how quickly AI infrastructure is depreciating.

With risk sentiment turning sharply, investors are rotating out of momentum plays, eyeing macro data and central bank commentary for what comes next.

U.S. Treasury yields edged lower Tuesday, with investors positioning cautiously ahead of a critical jobs report delayed by the now-ended 43-day government shutdown. As of press time, the 10-year yield (a key benchmark for everything from mortgages to risk assets) slipped almost 3 basis points to 4.104%.

Shorter-term paper saw even bigger moves. The 2-year yield dropped over 4 basis points to 3.57%, while the 30-year yield fell to 4.719%, down more than 1 basis point.

Across the curve, rates are softening as traders dial back expectations of a near-term Fed cut and wait to see whether this week’s delayed jobs data reignites hawkish fears, or finally gives doves something to work with.

Bond yields and prices move inversely, so the slide in yields suggests renewed demand for safety.

India’s markets finally paused Tuesday, ending a six-session winning streak as investors turned cautious ahead of key U.S. economic data that could sway the Federal Reserve’s December rate decision.

As of press time, the Nifty 50 slipped 0.2% to 25,962.65, and the Sensex dipped 0.18% to 84,799.90.

Losses were broad but shallow; 12 of 16 major sectors were in the red, while small-caps and mid-caps fell 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively. It’s a modest pullback after a strong rally fueled by solid corporate earnings, strong domestic inflows, and relief after the U.S. government shutdown ended.

Still, the benchmarks remain about 1.3% shy of their September 2024 record highs.

According to Prashanth Tapse at Mehta Equities, India’s underlying market tone remains constructive thanks to political stability, easing inflation, soft oil prices, and trade optimism.

But with global sentiment deteriorating fast, especially in tech and crypto, even India’s resilience is facing a reality check.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for the first time on Tuesday since she took office last month, and markets were listening closely.

After the meeting, Ueda told reporters that the BOJ is “gradually raising rates” to steer inflation toward its 2% goal and support sustainable growth. Crucially, he emphasized that Takaichi made no monetary policy requests, signaling no immediate interference from the new pro-stimulus leader.

That line was what stood out most to traders. According to Takeshi Ueno at NLI Research, the absence of tension “suggests Takaichi didn’t push back too fiercely against a near-term rate hike,” keeping the door open for the BOJ to proceed carefully without political roadblocks.

Still, the dynamic is fragile. Takaichi’s arrival, with her clear lean toward fiscal stimulus and dovish policy, has made the BOJ’s already-delicate path to higher rates even trickier.

Ueda wouldn’t say when the next hike might come, only that the central bank will act when the data says it’s right.

Even industrial metals are feeling the heat. Aluminum dropped 0.8% to $2,792.50 a ton on the London Metal Exchange Tuesday morning in Shanghai, its lowest in nearly a month.

Copper slipped 0.3%, zinc fell 0.5%, and iron ore futures shed 0.5% to hit $103.90. The whole sector’s under pressure as traders brace for Thursday’s delayed U.S. jobs report, the one data point that could make or break expectations of a Fed rate cut next month.

Right now, those hopes are fading. A chorus of Federal Reserve officials is pushing back against more easing, and that’s been killing appetite for risk; not just in crypto and stocks, but in commodities too.

Metals had been flying earlier this month, with aluminum hitting a three-year high on the back of strong Chinese demand and tight supply. But now, the rally’s stalling out.

There’s still regional strain brewing under the surface: Rio Tinto is slapping surcharges on U.S. aluminum shipments, as inventories dwindle due to Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs. That’s adding tension to an already fragile market.

Gold, meanwhile, is backing off from its recent record run. Bullion slid to $4,015 an ounce, down almost 4% over three sessions, though it’s still up over 50% in 2025, pacing for its best year since 1979. A mix of fiscal instability and central-bank buying has fueled the surge.

According to Goldman Sachs, official-sector purchases hit 64 tons in September, with China reportedly adding 15 tons alone, well above the 1.24 tons it publicly disclosed.

Markets across Asia tanked Tuesday, following the tech carnage that wrecked Wall Street overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 collapsed 3.2%, shedding over 1,600 points, while the Topix dropped 2.7%, its worst session in months.

In South Korea, the Kospi cratered 3.3% and the Kosdaq fell 2.7%, both hit hard by the global risk-off mood and crypto’s deepening slide.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up 1.6%, and China’s CSI 300 slipped 0.44%. Meanwhile, Australia’s ASX 200 lost nearly 2%, wiping out over 160 index points as energy and tech names sank together.

Bond yields in Japan surged: 20-year yields hit 2.78%, their highest since July 1999, while 10-year paper rose to 1.75%, as traders braced for more issuance tied to stimulus spending.

The move came after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama issued a rare warning about the yen, which broke past 155 to the dollar, a key line for markets.

She called the FX moves “extremely one-sided and rapid,” adding that Tokyo is now watching for disorderly trading with “a high degree of vigilance.”

Katayama hinted that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s larger-than-expected stimulus plan may slow the Bank of Japan’s path to higher rates, and said the weak Q3 GDP, the first contraction in six quarters, justifies aggressive economic measures.

Still, rising debt worries are pushing bond yields up, especially in the super-long end, and demand at Wednesday’s 20-year bond auction is suddenly looking shaky.

Bitcoin crashed below $90,000 during Asia trading Tuesday, tumbling as much as 2.4% and deepening a brutal month-long drop that’s now erased all of its 2025 gains.

It’s the worst stretch since April, when the token plunged to $74,400 after Donald Trump jolted global markets with his surprise tariff threats.

From its record high of $126,000 in early October, Bitcoin’s slide has been steady, and it’s now feeding on itself.

Traders are backing off fast, rattled by growing worries over the Federal Reserve’s December rate decision and a broader tech-led unwind in speculative assets. The risk-off mood is everywhere, and crypto’s getting hit the hardest.

The selloff that started in early October already wiped out over $1 trillion in token value. Retail buyers are gone. Speculative altcoins are getting torched. And long-vs-short liquidations have now topped $950 million in just 24 hours, according to Coinglass.

Options traders aren’t waiting around for a rebound, they’re leaning into the pain. Bearish flows have dominated recent trading, with protection demand skyrocketing at the $85K and $80K strike prices. Even though Bitcoin has bounced slightly to $90,121 at press time, no one’s breathing easy.

U.S. stock futures barely moved Monday night, but the calm is deceptive. After a bruising day on Wall Street, futures linked to the Dow inched up 52 points, the S&P rose 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.2%, a tiny bounce following a total wipeout in the previous session.

Earlier, the Dow plunged 550 points, or 1.2%, and the S&P and Nasdaq both sank around 0.9%, dragged down by relentless selling in tech. And at the center of the storm? Nvidia, down 2% ahead of its Q3 earnings coming Wednesday.

The chip giant has become the poster child for the AI boom, but that’s precisely the problem. Investors are starting to question how long this rally can hold.

Concerns are swirling over bloated tech valuations, the real utility of AI deployments, and even the depreciation speed of AI chips, especially as firms keep flooding the market with debt.

On Tuesday, the world’s largest crypto tanked below $90,500, torching every gain it had built over the past year, and now traders are scrambling for downside protection, especially around the $90K, $85K, and $80K levels.

Data from Coinbase-owned Deribit shows a rush of bets expiring later this month: over $740 million worth of contracts are now riding on Bitcoin falling even further. Bullish bets? Basically vanished.

Even Bitcoin-believers are feeling the heat. Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc. may have just doubled down with an $835 million purchase, but other corporate holders, the so-called digital-asset treasuries, are edging toward forced selling. The pressure’s on to dump crypto and protect their books, and that’s killing sentiment.

Now there’s a new overhang: holders too deep in the red to buy more, but too stubborn to sell. According to CoinMarketCap’s sentiment gauge, the market has plunged into “extreme fear” territory. And that fear isn’t just about crypto anymore.

The S&P 500’s 1% drop, Wednesday’s looming Nvidia earnings, and fresh doubts about a December Fed rate cut are all swirling together to choke off appetite for risk. As Adam McCarthy at Kaiko put it, “The Fed and AI bubble talk are two major headwinds. You’re looking at a sustained downtrend for Bitcoin.”

Ethereum is taking it on the chin, too. Ether just dropped to $2,975, down 24% since October.

Meanwhile, open interest in smaller tokens like Solana has collapsed by more than 50%, per Coinglass data. The macro risk-off mood is everywhere.