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Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin traded above $64,600, up 0.5% weekly, holding above its 50-day moving average after Monday’s dip to $62,500
- Gains were concentrated in Bitcoin rather than the broader market, a pattern one analyst called an early sign of a potential rotation
- Asian equities fell as chip stocks dropped sharply, with South Korea’s Kospi down 4.4%, while gold rose and oil fell ahead of SoftBank earnings
Bitcoin traded above $64,600 on Thursday, up slightly on the day and 0.5% over the past week, as traders turned their attention to a $101 billion SpaceX stock unlock and a decline in Asian tech stocks.
Bitcoin’s price held steady even as broader risk sentiment weakened. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has roughly $101 billion of stock becoming tradable Thursday as the company’s first lockup period expires. SpaceX holds 18,712 BTC, worth about $1.1 billion as of the end of June, according to company disclosures.
Bitcoin Defends the 50-Day Average After Monday Dip
Bitcoin’s stability this week follows a dip toward $62,500 on Monday, when buyers stepped in and pushed the price back above its 50-day moving average. The recovery has held through Thursday, with Bitcoin gaining roughly half a percentage point over seven days while most other major tokens struggled to find direction.
The pattern has drawn attention because the gains have been concentrated in Bitcoin rather than spread across the wider crypto market.
Some analysts note that such concentration can be an early signal in longer market shifts, though they caution it remains an observation rather than a confirmed trend.
Ether Gains While XRP and BNB Slip
Performance across major tokens was mixed. Ether rose more than 1% to $1,904 but remained down 0.7% for the week. XRP was the weakest performer among large-cap tokens, falling nearly 3% to $1.04 and posting a 3% weekly loss. BNB slipped more than 1% to $595, though it still led the majors over the past seven days with a 3.5% gain.
Solana fell almost 1% to near $74, and Dogecoin declined by a similar margin to 7 cents. Tron held flat at 33 cents. Hyperliquid’s HYPE token was little changed at $56 but posted the best weekly performance among major tokens, up more than 4% over seven days.
Analyst Points to Early-Stage Bitcoin-Led Rotation
Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at FxPro, said in an emailed note that Bitcoin has built momentum since Monday’s dip toward $62,500, when buyers stepped in and pushed the price back above the 50-day moving average. He said:
“Optimism is centered more on Bitcoin than on the wider market,”
He added that this pattern is typical of the early stages of a longer-term market shift, though he did not specify a timeframe or catalyst for that shift to broaden.
Asian Equities Fall as Chip Stocks Decline
Equity markets weakened on Thursday. The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day winning streak, falling 0.2% as chipmakers declined on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi index, often described by traders as a bellwether for AI-related stocks, dropped 4.4%, with SK Hynix and Samsung among the largest decliners.
S&P 500 futures and European equity futures edged higher, while the pullback remained concentrated in Asian chip stocks rather than broad-based.
Gold Climbs, Oil Falls as Traders Await SoftBank Earnings
Gold rose 0.4% to its strongest level since June amid trimmed expectations for further rate hikes. Brent crude fell below $80 a barrel after Iran said it had reached an agreement with Oman on a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
SoftBank is scheduled to report earnings later Thursday. The company has invested $34.6 billion in OpenAI through its Vision Fund 2 since September 2024 and owns chip designer Arm. Investors will watch its results for signs of whether private-market AI investment is holding up alongside the public equity pullback.
