Key Takeaways:
Bitcoin fell alongside a broad tech rout Monday as South Korea's SK Hynix suffered its worst single-day drop on record, pushing the largest cryptocurrency toward the $60,000 support level.
Bitcoin dropped 4.2% to $60,200 as of 07:00 UTC, extending losses from the previous session as risk assets sold off across Asia and the US. The decline came as SK Hynix shares listed on the Korea Exchange closed 15.4% lower — the steepest drop in the company's history — one trading day after its $26.5 billion Nasdaq debut, the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company. Rival Samsung Electronics lost more than 10%, triggering a circuit breaker that halted Kospi trading for 20 minutes. The benchmark index closed nearly 9% lower.
"The current memory upcycle is tracking substantially stronger than expected, but our base case continues to assume normalization in cycle dynamics, limiting upside at current levels," Lorraine Tan, an analyst at Morningstar, wrote in a note Friday, valuing SK Hynix's ADRs at $160.
The selloff spread beyond South Korea. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell about 2%, while memory chip maker Kioxia slumped nearly 13%. US equity futures pointed lower, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 down 1% as of 07:00 UTC. The simultaneous decline in Bitcoin and tech stocks pointed to a macro-driven risk-off shift as traders positioned ahead of US core inflation data due later this week.
Bitcoin's technical setup added to the bearish case. The cryptocurrency broke down from a rising wedge pattern that had formed over the past two weeks, a formation that technical analysts often interpret as a reversal signal. The measured move target from the breakdown sits near $58,500, a level that would represent a roughly 3% decline from current prices. A confirmed break below the psychological $60,000 mark could accelerate selling pressure, potentially triggering cascading liquidations across leveraged positions. Open interest across major exchanges stood at $34.2 billion as of Monday morning, with funding rates turning negative on Binance and OKX, indicating that short sellers were paying to maintain bearish positions.
The macro calendar this week is the next catalyst. US core CPI for June, due Wednesday, will shape expectations for the Federal Reserve's September rate decision. A hotter-than-expected print could push the 10-year Treasury yield higher, further pressuring risk assets including Bitcoin. The correlation between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 has remained elevated at 0.72 over the past 30 days, according to CoinMetrics data, suggesting the two asset classes are likely to move in tandem through the inflation release.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
