- Bitcoin dropped to US$80,958 before recovering to US$81,626, while Altcoins also faced headwinds.
- Global equities weakened amid concerns over AI spending, rising oil prices and geopolitical tensions, with the Nasdaq falling 2.6% and Asian markets also declining.
- US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded approximately US$635.6 million in net outflows on Thursday, reversing nearly 60% of the week’s earlier inflows.
- Despite heavy withdrawals from BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC, Bitcoin ETFs remained positive for the week with around US$439 million in net inflows.
After topping out at US$84,835 (AU$121,066) in early trading yesterday, Bitcoin (BTC) is clinging to the US$80K (AU$114K) mark. Earlier this morning, Australian time, it dropped as low as US$80,958 (AU$115,533), according to data from CoinMarketCap.
At the time of writing, BTC trades at US$81,626 (AU$116,499), a drop of 1.36% over the past 24 hours and 3.78% from yesterday’s high.
Altcoins have also come under pressure, with DeFi tokens such as Curve DAO and ether.fi losing over 7% in the past 24 hours. Stacks, LayerZero and several other major altcoins have also recorded substantial losses.
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AI Worries and Geopolitical Tensions Hit Global Stocks
Concerns about AI spending, rising oil prices and geopolitical tensions have also weighed on equity markets across the Asia-Pacific region.
Losses started on Thursday and carried into Friday trading. South Korea’s KOSPI lost 2.4%, China’s Shanghai Composite 1.3%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 1.7% and Australia’s ASX 200 0.2%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng recovered slightly from Thursday’s 3% loss and was trading 0.2% higher on Friday.
Thursday trading also saw US stocks tumble as the Nasdaq dropped 2.6% – its steepest daily slide since June – while the S&P 500 lost 1.21% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 6.7%. Meta fell approximately 7% as investors questioned the costs of expanding AI infrastructure.
Investors also sought safety in US government bonds, with Treasuries recording their biggest daily rally in over a year, according to Bloomberg.
Markets are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s 27–28 October meeting, with renewed inflation concerns adding uncertainty over the central bank’s next move.
Read also: ASIC Investigates Australian Financial Firm Amid Fears Investors Lost AU$138 Million
ETFs Bleed, Reversing Almost 60% of US$1 Billion in Inflows
Meanwhile, US spot Bitcoin ETFs are reporting heavy outflows. After the first three trading days of the week brought net inflows of US$1.075 billion (AU$1.54 billion), Thursday offset almost 60% of these gains.
Five funds, including BlackRock’s IBIT, Fidelity’s FBTC, Bitwise’s BITB, ARK’s ARKB and Grayscale’s GBTC, posted a combined US$637.9 million (AU$910.5 million) in outflows, only partially offset by US$2.3 million (AU$3.28 million) in inflows into Morgan Stanley’s MSBT.
The two largest losers, IBIT and FBTC, saw US$254.1 million (AU$362.6 million) and US$217.5 million (AU$310.4 million) in net outflows, respectively.
That leaves the funds with approximately US$439 million (AU$626.5 million) in net inflows for the week, despite Thursday’s heavy withdrawals.
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