Business Maverick

Business Maverick

Bitcoin Extends Drop Amid Global Selloff as Stocks Stumble

A bitcoin logo sits on a LL 1800W power unit supplying cryptocurrency mining machine. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Cryptocurrency prices extended a slump Tuesday after a broad selloff sparked by worries about contagion from China Evergrande Group swept through global markets. 

Bitcoin slid as much as 7.6% to $40,237 in early Asian trading, dropping to the lowest level since the beginning of August, before paring some of the decline. Ether retreated below $3,000. Cardano fell about 10% over the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.com.

The losses mirrored the concerns in the broader market as investors weighed the risks coming from Evergrande debt crisis and this week’s Federal Reserve meeting. The S&P 500 fell 1.7% in its worst session since May overnight, and the stock selloff continued in Asia on Tuesday.

Crypto prices have been volatile in recent months

“Some have attributed the sudden dip to the currently ongoing Evergrande situation in China which has already caused turmoil in traditional markets,” wrote Jonas Luethy, a sales trader at GlobalBlock, the U.K.-based digital asset broker. “Analysts have suggested a choppy week is ahead, with a potential pullback to as low as $41,000.”

Although Bitcoin doesn’t always trade in tandem with financial markets — a characteristic that made it a tempting proposition from a portfolio-diversification point of view — its correlation on a 30-day basis to futures on the Nasdaq 100 has been consistently positive since February last year. As Bitcoin becomes more integrated in global financial markets, it may respond more to the changes in risk appetite that drive global sentiment.

Cryptocurrency's correlation with the Nasdaq turned consistently positive last year

Meanwhile, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said the country had “bought the dip,” in Bitcoin, adding 150 tokens to raise its total holdings to 700 — about $32 million based on current pricing. The nation recently adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in a controversial move that met with technical glitches and protests.

“This is part of a well-established pattern where it sells off as traders cash in their riskier assets to cover margin calls and/or sit on the sidelines until markets calm down and they feel more comfortable going back into riskier positions,” said Leah Wald, chief executive officer at Valkyrie Investments.

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Daily Maverick Elections Toolbox

Feeling powerless in politics?

Equip yourself with the tools you need for an informed decision this election. Get the Elections Toolbox with shareable party manifesto guide.