Bitcoin slipped to $68,000 on Tuesday as a broader risk-off tone swept across markets, mirroring weakness in U.S. tech stocks and an ongoing correction in gold. At the same time, memecoins led losses among altcoins, while bitcoin dominance remained locked in a familiar range.
The crypto market tracked a tech-driven selloff in equities and declining precious metals prices. Bitcoin was down 1.25% since midnight UTC, while Nasdaq futures fell 0.55%. Gold dropped 2.4% over the same period, extending its pullback.
Among altcoins, speculative tokens bore the brunt of the downturn. Memecoins such as Pepe (PEPE), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Official Trump (TRUMP) declined between 3.5% and 4.5%, underperforming the broader market.
The weakness in risk assets has been partly attributed to renewed concerns surrounding artificial intelligence and its potential disruption across industries, weighing heavily on tech shares. Since early February, bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq has shifted sharply. The correlation coefficient has climbed from -0.68 to +0.72 over the past two weeks, signaling that bitcoin is once again moving in tandem with U.S. tech stocks.
Gold, meanwhile, was trading at $4,928 after failing to hold above the $5,000 mark. The metal had surged to a record $5,600 on Jan. 28 before undergoing a steep 21.5% correction in the days that followed.
Derivatives positioning
Futures markets reflect the cautious tone:
- Total crypto futures open interest fell 1.5% over the past 24 hours to $93 billion, marking fresh multi-month lows and indicating capital outflows.
- Exchanges liquidated $229 million in leveraged positions during the same period, with long positions accounting for the majority of forced closures.
- Open interest in DOGE futures dropped 4%, leading declines among major tokens. PEPE, LINK and AVAX posted 3% to 5% reductions.
- Futures tied to HYPE — a recent outperformer — saw open interest fall to 44.45 million tokens, the lowest since early December, suggesting profit-taking after the token outpaced bitcoin and other large-cap assets during the recent downturn.
- Implied volatility for bitcoin and ether has retreated sharply from recent highs, signaling that panic has eased.
- On Deribit, put options on bitcoin and ether continue to trade at a premium to calls, reflecting lingering downside concerns. However, positioning is less defensive than it was two weeks ago.
Token trends
Altcoins continue to take cues from bitcoin, with the “bitcoin dominance” metric holding between 57.4% and 60.1% since September, underscoring BTC’s relative strength within the market.
Some tokens have bucked the broader trend. Over the past week, AI-focused token MORPHO gained 23.5%, while privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) advanced 19%.
In contrast, layer-1 token LayerZero (ZRO) dropped 16% over the same period, losing momentum despite announcing a collaboration with Citadel Securities and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).
On shorter time frames, weakness persists. Tokens such as HYPE, SUI and ASTER fell between 3% and 4.8% since midnight UTC, as the broader crypto market awaits a catalyst to reignite bullish momentum.
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