Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration taken Nov. 25, 2024.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Bitcoin is now in the red for this year as investors continued to shed their speculative technology holdings with the cryptocurrency first among them.
Bitcoin was last trading around $91,000, but earlier Tuesday touched $89,259, its lowest since April 22. With Tuesday’s losses, bitcoin is now down 2% for the year, per FactSet.
The move comes as investors have shed their AI-related tech holdings this month in the stock market. Bitcoin appeared to foreshadow the risk-off move, peaking in early October at a record above $126,000 and sliding ever since.
Bitcoin, YTD
The tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 stock index is off by 4% this month, following cryptocurrencies lower. Many large tech investors are also big holders in the cryptocurrency space.
Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist at Jones Trading said the correlation between bitcoin and the tech-stock sell-off this week “is undeniable.”
“It is truly the tail wagging the dog when a $1.8 trillion market cap speculative asset is significantly influencing the $32 trillion market capitalization index,” said O’Rourke. “It is alarming to see the index – with its highly concentrated exposure to the largest and most influential companies in the world and the U.S. equity market – take cues from Bitcoin.”
Strategy (MSTR), which uses leverage to buy bitcoin and is considered a risky proxy for the cryptocurrency, was down again in premarket trading Tuesday, set to its 27% loss for November heading into the session.
