Asia Market Opening: Bitcoin Drops to $72K as Asian Stocks Follow Global Technology Decline

Bitcoin declined by 6% to $72,000 on Thursday as the sell-off in global technology extended into Asia, leaving traders cautious across both crypto and equity markets following another challenging day on Wall Street.

New liquidation statistics indicated that forced selling intensified as prices decreased. Data from CoinGlass revealed $627.96M in liquidations over the last 24 hours, with $497.10M from long positions and $130.86M from short positions.

Liquidations in Bitcoin were the highest at $255.4M, followed by Ether at $181.75M and Solana at $70.84M, with an additional $24.09M across smaller cryptocurrencies.

Market snapshot

• Bitcoin: $72,209, down 5.1%
• Ether: $2,137, down 5.3%
• XRP: $1.47, down 7.2%
• Total crypto market cap: $2.53 trillion, down 4.4%

Asian Equities Decline As Tech Concerns Impact Risk Appetite

In Asia, markets opened lower. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan fell by 1%, South Korea’s Kospi decreased by 1.7%, and Taiwan’s benchmark dropped by 0.7%. China’s CSI300 fell by 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined by 0.8%, while Japan’s Nikkei remained unchanged.

Market sentiment remained weak due to concerns over AI spending after Alphabet indicated capital expenditures between $175B and $185B, causing its shares to fluctuate before closing 0.4% lower in after-hours trading.

Samer Hasn, a senior market analyst at XS.com, noted that the cryptocurrency market is currently experiencing weak overall sentiment in the larger stock market amid the competition for AI leadership and declining liquidity.

“Futures traders are pulling back further, and spot ETF flows are not sustainable. Additionally, the risk of a wider conflict in the Middle East, along with the expectation of upcoming economic data and corporate earnings, is keeping traders apprehensive,” he stated.

Market Attention Shifts To Earnings And Postponed Jobs Data

Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday as investors scrutinized high valuations and pondered whether the AI rally has reached its peak. The S&P 500 decreased by 0.51%, the Nasdaq fell by 1.51%, and the Dow increased by 0.53% to 49,501.30.

Chip stocks were a significant contributor to the downturn. Advanced Micro Devices plummeted by 17% after projecting quarterly revenue that fell short of expectations, Nvidia dropped by 3.4%, and the PHLX semiconductor index fell by 4.4%, while Palantir declined nearly 12% after reversing the previous day’s gains.

Nonetheless, futures attempted to stabilize as traders considered the effects of increased spending on heavy equipment. Nvidia rose nearly 2% after hours, boosting Nasdaq futures by 0.6% and S&P 500 futures by 0.4%, as investors shifted from high-priced growth stocks to value and cyclical stocks, with the S&P 500 value index extending its gains for a fifth consecutive session.

Macro indicators remained active. The January US jobs report was rescheduled to February 11 following a four-day government shutdown. ADP data indicated weaker growth in private payrolls, with job losses occurring in the services and manufacturing sectors.

In commodities, oil prices fell after two days of increases as the US and Iran agreed to engage in discussions in Oman on Friday. West Texas Intermediate dropped by 1.4% to $64.23 per barrel, and Brent also decreased by 1.4% to $68.47, while gold and silver saw slight increases in early trading following last Friday’s significant decline.

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