#BTCNextATH An upheaval in global markets sparked by Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek triggered volatility in digital assets, raising fresh questions about the outlook for crypto following last year’s boom in prices.
Bitcoin traded at $102,800 as of 6:15 a.m. Tuesday in New York, partly paring a 3% drop from in the prior session that came amid a plunge in the Nasdaq 100 Index of US tech stocks. Tokens such as Ether and Solana snapped deeper selloffs.
The sudden success of DeepSeek signaled growing AI competition from China, exacerbating worries over the sustainability of rich US tech stock valuations predicated on leadership in innovation. The risk for crypto is that such angst can dent wider speculative ardor, blunting the boost from President Donald Trump’s executive order in favor of supportive digital-asset regulations.
Bitcoin’s tight correlation with US tech stocks underlines the vulnerability. A 30-day correlation coefficient for the cryptocurrency and the Nasdaq 100 is at about 0.67, data compiled by Bloomberg show. A reading of 1 indicates assets are moving in lockstep, while minus 1 signals an inverse tie.
For ByteTree Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Charlie Morris, it’s “getting harder to distinguish between Bitcoin and big tech” given the two are moving in tandem. Despite the executive order and a retreat in a dollar gauge this year, “Bitcoin can’t make a new high,” he wrote in a note.