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Bitcoin on Friday once again started the U.S. session with a sharp move lower, tumbling back to $88,500 even as precious metals continued breakneck rallies, with silver topping $100 per ounce for the first time ever. Gold was just shy of $5,000 per ounce, while platinum soared 5% to a new all-time high. Not a precious metal, but maybe soon to become one at this pace, copper rose 2.5% to just below a record high.
Crypto-related stocks moved lower as well. Coinbase (COIN) was down 2.6%, while Strategy (MSTR) slid 1.2%. Bitcoin miners Riot Platforms (RIOT) and MARA Holdings (MARA) posted 2% declines.
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The decline in crypto also came as U.S. stocks brushed off early losses to turn mostly higher, with the Nasdaq ahead 0.4% despite a 15% post-earnings plunge in Intel (INTC).
The company beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations but disappointed with first-quarter guidance, in part due to AI chip supply constraints. The stock remains higher by 17% year to date.
Bitcoin U.S. returns sink
When bitcoin reached $98,000 last week, the cumulative returns this year during the U.S. trading sessions were as high as 9%, noted CoinDesk senior analyst James Van Straten. Since then, those returns have dropped to just 2%, underscoring weaker demand for BTC from U.S. investors. That coincided with heavy outflows from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, investors withdrawing over $1.6 billion in the last four sessions.
Jasper De Maere, desk strategist at crypto trading firm Wintermute, noted a recent uptick in stablecoin redemptions into fiat, signaling that some institutional players who had re-entered the market earlier this year may now be stepping back.