Bitcoin’s $82,500 Support Line Just Boarded Tech’s Roller Coaster

Bitcoin was hovering just above $82,500 on Wednesday, with Simon-Peter Massabni, XS.com’s head of business development, calling the level bitcoin’s most important support. Massabni said a “decisive and sustained break” below $82,500 could hand control to sellers and expose bitcoin to a drop toward $70,000, a downside scenario laid out by market maker Wintermute that would mean a further 15% slide. A move back above $84,000 would take that scenario off the table.

Bitcoin fell in lockstep with the Nasdaq last week after the hot U.S. inflation report and a selloff in AI and chip stocks, and Massabni said the connection was getting stronger. “In the short term, this development challenges the notion that Bitcoin can consistently serve as an independent safe haven from traditional market volatility,” he said.

Tech offered bitcoin some cover on Wednesday, with Nasdaq 100 futures rising 0.4% and S&P 500 futures gaining 0.2%. SpaceX jumped 9% before the open after its AI and satellite internet businesses drove earnings well above forecasts, while a report that Anthropic may spend $750 billion on computing power eased concerns about the AI spending boom.

Brent topped $110 a barrel on attacks near the Strait of Hormuz, and Treasury yields edged higher. Meta and Tesla were due to report later Wednesday.