Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a sharp decline on Thursday, dropping to its lowest point since mid-December. Within just a few hours, it lost nearly $3,000 as the dramatic surge in gold prices suddenly reversed.
Gold had briefly soared above $5,600 per ounce during Thursday’s trading session—an unprecedented level since before Sunday night when it had never surpassed $5,000. However, in a matter of minutes during U.S. morning trading, gold plummeted almost 10%, falling back below the $5,200 mark.
Silver mirrored this downward trend as well; its price fell from $121 per ounce down to around $108.
The selloff intensified following Microsoft’s (MSFT) stock plunge of over 11%, marking possibly their worst performance since March 2020. The tech giant revealed slower growth within its cloud division which dragged the Nasdaq index down by approximately 1.5%, amplifying risk-averse sentiment across markets.
The cryptocurrency sector also felt the impact. Bitcoin traded above $88,000 earlier but then sharply dropped to about $85,200—the lowest level seen in more than a month—resulting in a 4.5% decrease over the past day.
Other major cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum’s ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Cardano (ADA) suffered even steeper losses between 5% and 6%, with altcoins bearing the brunt of this market downturn.
Among crypto-related stocks, Strategy (MSTR)—the largest corporate holder of bitcoin—declined by 8%. This marked its worst day since December 12th and pushed shares down to levels last seen in September 2024.
Additional notable declines were observed for Bullish (BLSH), Twenty One Capital (XXI), Circle (CRCL), and Coinbase (COIN), all losing between 4% and 8% amid widespread selling pressure.
The S&P 500 Volatility Index surged more than16% reaching19—the second highest reading since late November—while the DXY dollar index rebounded from Wednesday’s low of95.5 up to96.6 potentially adding further strain on risk-sensitive assets across global markets.