Bitcoin whipsawed across key psychological levels in Asian trading over two volatile sessions, initially climbing above $80,000 before falling below $76,000 as an AI-led equity rout spread from Wall Street to Asia.
On Wednesday, Asian markets were split after the US midterms. China, Hong Kong, Australia and Southeast Asia rallied, while chip-heavy benchmarks sold off. The KOSPI fell 3.5% to 5,484.38, with Samsung Electronics down 5.7% and SK Hynix down 7.4%. The Nikkei 225 dropped 0.5% to 61,914.53, as Advantest lost 9.4%, Tokyo Electron fell 7.7%, and SoftBank dropped 5.3%. Brent crude plunged roughly 8.7% and stayed near $94, while Bitcoin topped $80,000.
By Friday, sentiment soured further on worries that a Democratic election win would bring tighter US rules on artificial intelligence. The Nasdaq 100 closed 6.5% lower on Thursday, and tech stocks extended declines across Asia. Japan’s Nikkei fell as much as 7% and dropped below 60,000 for the first time since May. South Korea’s KOSPI plunged as much as 8.8%, triggering a circuit breaker in Seoul. Against this risk-off backdrop, Bitcoin slipped below $76,000.
The sell-off underscored how macro equity moves and AI regulation fears can spill into crypto markets, with Bitcoin failing to hold its recent breakout despite earlier strength.
